


a year in love

by ariquitecontrary



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: (Some) Angst With a Happy Ending, Alternate Universe - College/University, F/M, Feelings Realization, Friends to Lovers, Jealousy, Oblivious!Jughead, Roommates, pining!jughead
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-15
Updated: 2020-10-15
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:08:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 29,165
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27019297
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ariquitecontrary/pseuds/ariquitecontrary
Summary: “Do you want to kiss me?” Toni asks suddenly and Jughead actually reels back at the question, nearly hitting his head on the coffee table. Toni gets on her knees and looks him right in the eye. “Jughead, do you want to kiss me?”“No!” He says quickly and stands up, taking a step away from her. “What the hell is wrong with you? You’re my best friend, Toni!”“Aha!” She yells and stands up too. “See! Best friends don’t want to kiss their best friends so tell me, if Betty Cooper asked you if you wanted to kiss her, what would you say? Would you react like you just did with me?”Jughead looks at Toni like she’s lost her damn mind, and honestly maybe she has, because why else would she be here right now asking him such stupid questions?Or: Jughead Jones is maybe, possibly, completely in love with Betty Cooper. There's just one small problem. He's the only one who doesn't know it.
Relationships: Betty Cooper/Jughead Jones
Comments: 39
Kudos: 219
Collections: 8th Bughead Fanfiction Awards - Nominees





	a year in love

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, Baby, Here's That Cliché Fic You Wanted. 
> 
> Before we get into this fic, the jealousy tag is there for a reason. I know that some people in the fandom aren't cool with this certain concept, so if the idea of Betty or Jughead going on a date with someone else isn't something you think you can deal with, please read the notes at the end for a more detailed description of what happens, bc it definitely isn't that bad AT ALL, but I don't want anyone to be blindsided. <3
> 
> A small warning: There is a conversation about weed at a party and Betty does partake in getting high. We don't actually see her get high, we only know she is because Jughead realizes how red her eyes are. It's nothing bad, I promise. 
> 
> Anyway, this was a fun little project to kind of get my creative juices flowing bc they've really been lacking lately. I hope you enjoy it <3 No beta so all mistakes are mine!

Like most things in Jughead Jones’ life, his friendship with Betty had been an absolute whirlwind that he’d really had no control over. 

They met each other during their freshmen orientation for college when they were thrown into the same group due to their interest in majoring in criminal justice. Jughead had been a little nervous that day, he’s not scared to admit it. It was the first time that he was going to school without his best friend by his side. Archie had decided that he wanted to try to make a career out of singing and writing songs, which had landed him at Juilliard, and even though their campuses were literally only two hours away from each other, it still sucked for Jughead. He’ll never tell him to his face, but he was honestly really lost without Archie Andrews hanging around him day and night. For a while he had even considered trying to sneak his way into Juilliard too. He had to have some kind of artistic talent hidden somewhere, right? 

Deep down though, he knew that eventually this would have to happen. He and Archie couldn’t stay attached at the hip for the rest of their lives; they had to grow up someday. It had been a sobering thought and he absolutely hated it, so he pulled out his phone and sent a sad selfie to Archie, asking him if he would consider switching schools. He’s sure this place had to have a music program… probably. 

“Isn’t the whole point of this to make friends and not be on your phone?” 

The new voice had startled him so much that he nearly dropped his phone. He had turned around, ready to give whatever rich and snobby daddy’s girl that had decided to give her unwanted opinion to him a piece of his mind, but he’d been rendered speechless as soon as he saw said girl. 

Despite the fact that she was a freshman and just as lost and alone as he was, there was a sort of confidence that radiated off of her. She had been smiling at him, despite her teasing words, and Jughead remembers smiling back at her even though he had found her statement a little annoying and unnecessary. 

He looked down at her, trying to get a feel of the type of person she was, and had immediately felt like he should go home and change. 

Everyone here looks like an asshole in his opinion. They all looked so serious and proper; a few people were actually wearing _suits_. Jughead would never say it aloud, but he’d always thought they looked like douchebags who took themselves way too seriously for no reason. Like, come on, they were all pimple-faced eighteen-year-olds who had no clue what they were doing back then. He thinks they could chill with the suits and put on some damn sweats. Hell, he’d just worn a pair of ripped jeans and plain black t-shirt, which was honestly better than what he wore on most days. He found it stupid to dress up for society and their expectations. 

And yet he hadn’t find this girl’s outfit stupid at all. 

It was obvious that she was trying to fit in with everyone. She’d been wearing a tiny corduroy skirt and white long-sleeved shirt with heeled ankle boots. She hadn’t been the most dressed up person there, but Jughead could tell that she was still trying to impress in her own way. She looked nice, though and she was smiling at him in a genuine way that didn’t make it seem as if she were secretly laughing at him. So he decided to play nice. 

He glanced down at the nametag on her shirt. _Betty_. It was such a strange name, such an old name. It sounded like the name one of his nana’s friends would have, and yet the girl was nothing like his nana’s friends. It fit her, though, in a very odd way. It was classic and something told him that she was too. 

“And what makes you think I want to be friends with these assholes?” He asked her, keeping his voice low so that their peers didn’t overhear them. Betty looked shocked at his words. 

“You don’t even know them. How do you know they’re assholes?” 

Jughead grinned. He nodded towards a blonde haired boy in the corner of the room and Betty’s eyes followed his. There had been about five people huddling around the guy, listening to his every word like he was some kind of God. 

“That guy has been talking about his extensive Rolex collection for the past ten minutes. And you see that guy over there?” He pointed to a dorky looking boy in a suit that’s probably worth more than Jughead’s family's entire earnings put together. “He’s been checking out that really tall redhead and making gross comments for the past five.” Betty makes an ugly face and Jughead smirks. “Yeah, I don’t think I’m in a hurry to try and make friends with them.” 

Betty looked back towards him and smiled. 

“Well, then you get to be _my_ friend. I promise I’m a lot cooler than those guys. At the very least I won’t show you my Rolex collection.” 

Jughead snorted. “Oh? How kind of you.” 

“Yeah, I’ll show you my Cartier collection instead.” 

He had looked down at her, not sure if she was joking or not, but when he saw the large smile on her face, everything had just fallen into place and the rest… well, the rest was easy. 

They went from orientation partners to sitting next to each other in their two shared classes to walking each other to their other classes whenever they had the time. Then they started making lunch dates and dinner dates. They would go out to the movies on the weekends, and during the weekdays they would sneak into each other’s dorms after hours just so they could talk and hang out. 

Jughead had never really had a girl best friend before, but he knew right away that’s what Betty would be to him. She got him. Hell, sometimes it felt like maybe she got him more than Archie did. She had quickly become one of the best parts of his life and so it only made sense that they would decide to move in together during their third year of college. 

They had gotten a nice little apartment on campus, deciding that neither of them had any desire to stay in the dorms again or room with some random stranger. It was logical and honestly, Jughead loved it. He loved being around Betty so much. There was just something about her. In a lot of ways she was like his anchor and truth be told, he’s not sure what he would do without her now. 

“Jughead Jones, you stupid asshole!” 

A pillow hits him hard in the face and he grunts in pain as he opens his eyes, squinting at the bright light that now floods his room. 

He means to say “What the fuck” but he’s still half asleep and way too drowsy so it just comes out like “Whafuu?” Betty understands, though, because she always does. 

“You ate my last toaster strudel!” She screams at him and hits him again, which causes him to wake up a little more. “You knew they were limited editions and you ate the last one! What’s wrong with you?” Her eyes start to water and now he’s on high alert. He sits up from his bed, causing his blanket to fall and expose his entire naked chest to her, but neither of them even blink at it. She’s seen worse. 

“Are you seriously going to cry over a fucking pastry?” He asks, even though he’s scared that she actually might. “Betty, that strudel has been there for like a month, just begging to be eaten. It was going to expire soon!” 

“I know that!” She cries. “I was saving it for once I finished writing my stupid paper as a treat, but now I can’t even have that because I live with a freaking human garbage disposal.” She hits him again with the pillow, but this time he reaches out and grabs a hold of it, yanking it from her hands. 

“Stop hitting me.” She frowns and looks down. “Betty, look, I’m sorry, okay? I thought you didn’t want it. It’s just a strudel. They’ll bring them back.” 

Instead of answering him, she just lets out a loud scream and stalks out of the room in anger. Jughead watches her retreating figure before rolling back over, tossing his head against his pillow. He glances over at the clock on his bedside table and groans when he realizes that it’s damn near three in the morning. 

He wants to go back to sleep, but he feels like shit now. He knows that Betty’s been beating herself up over this paper. It’s for one of her harder classes that usually gives her a lot of trouble, and she had been excited to finally finish it. Of course she would have some kind of incentive to help her power through and _of course_ Jughead would eat it. 

He closes his eyes but he has a really hard time sleeping after that. 

.

.

.

Betty wakes up a little after ten and stumbles into the kitchen with one sock missing and a yellow sticky note stuck on her elbow. 

“What are you doing?” She mumbles, still half asleep. Jughead sneaks a glance up at her, not wanting to ruin his current task at hand, and has to refrain from laughing at her. Betty doesn’t really try around him anymore. When they had first moved in with each other, it was obvious that she hadn’t wanted him to see her as some kind of slob. She was constantly dressing up and refused to be around him without make-up on, which meant her waking up at the crack of dawn to get ready before he woke up. He had thought all of that was stupid, and had even told Betty countless times too. It had taken her a while to see it though, but he’s glad that she’s finally used to him and comfortable enough that she can come to the kitchen looking like an absolute mess without caring. If anything, Jughead loves seeing her like this a lot more than he does when she’s all dressed up. He thinks that he’s the only person who ever gets to see her like this and it makes him feel a little special. 

“Well,” he drags out, “I heard that someone finished their really hard assignment and I figured that we just had to celebrate that, don’t we?” He turns around, plate in his hand, and shows Betty what he’d been working on. Her face softens as soon as she catches on. 

“Juggie,” she coos, a lot more awake now, “you didn’t.” 

He smiles. “Take a seat, pretty girl.” 

Betty rolls her eyes at his words, but does as he says. He knows that she doesn’t believe his words, but he doesn’t really care. He always calls her ‘pretty girl’, even when she’s just rolled out of bed like right now, because he means it. He doesn’t want her to ever feel like she isn’t, and he thinks that as her best friend it’s kind of up to him to make sure that she knows she’s always pretty, especially like this. 

He places the plate in front of her and Betty’s bottom lip starts to wobble as she looks down at it. 

He had woken up insanely early to go to the grocery store as soon as it had opened so that he could go get Betty’s damn strudels. He had to go to two different stores to find the exact ones she wanted, but he didn’t mind. He would have gone to a lot more for her. 

He’d also gotten some bacon and pancakes, her favorite simple breakfast, and made some of that too just in case. He’s feeling extra bad today, so he’d even made her a smiley face out of the bacon and some strawberries for her pancakes. She smiles as she sees his work and looks up at him with glassy eyes. 

“You love me,” she pouts and Jughead chuckles. 

“Of course I love you, you dummy.” He walks around the bar top that she’s sitting at and places a kiss to the top of her head. She closes her eyes and leans into his touch. “You’re my best friend.” Betty tenses up and goes completely silent and Jughead looks down at her in confusion. “You okay, Betts?” 

“I’m fine,” she says easily, but pulls away from his touch as she reaches down to take the bacon off of the pancake, therefore taking away the smile on it. “Thank you for all of this, Jug. You didn’t need to do this. I was just being really dramatic last night, I’m sorry.” 

“You kidding me?” He jokes. “There’s nothing I love more than being woken up by you hitting my face with a pillow at three in the morning.” 

Betty snorts and takes a bite out of the bacon. “I’ll keep that in mind.” Before she drops her arm again, Jughead reaches out and takes off the sticky note from her elbow. She looks at him in confusion and then rolls her eyes when she sees what he’s grabbed. “Ugh. I never want to see another sticky note in my life.” 

“Well, at least you just need to turn in this assignment and then we get to celebrate.” Although he tries to say the words with enthusiasm, Betty gives him a deadpan look. 

He’s not sure when they started celebrating every single time that they turned in a damn project, but if he had to take a guess he would say that it was around the time that they met Veronica Lodge and Cheryl Blossom. 

Betty had met Veronica during her English I class and Jughead had actually met Cheryl through her girlfriend, Toni Topaz. He had switched majors during his second semester once he figured out that photography was more of his style and Toni, who was already more familiar with the course, had let him shadow her so he could learn how things worked in the department. They had hit it off really quickly and before he knew it, he was being invited to parties with her and her girlfriend. And of course it just so happened that Cheryl and Veronica were childhood friends, so really it took no time at all before they all became close friends. 

“You don’t like going out,” Betty reminds him as she brings a piece of the pancake up to her lips. It’s drenched in syrup and Jughead watches as some of it sticks to her lips. 

“Sure I do,” he lies, reaching out to wipe away at the leftover syrup on her lip. Betty’s eyes follow his movements as she watches him bring the syrup-coated finger up to his own lips so that he can taste it. Her mouth opens slightly and she quickly reaches for her orange juice, chugging it down in one swift motion. Huh. The pancakes must be a little dry for her to drink like that. “I like going out when you’re there.” 

“Shut up,” Betty mumbles, but there’s a smile on her face. “Is Archie coming after all?” 

Jughead nods. “I don’t even think he finished his assignment yet, but you know he’s not about to miss out on seeing Veronica.” 

Archie and Veronica had met at a Halloween party during Jughead’s first year here and the two of them had been inseparable ever since. Honestly, Jughead had been a little surprised by the two of them together. He loved Veronica, don’t get him wrong, she’s amazing and he considers himself lucky to have a friend like her, but if he had met her back in high school, he just knows that he would have hated her. She’s the daughter of some big business tycoon and has no problem letting everyone know it. It’s not like she rubs her wealth or power in their faces, but sometimes he does feel a little awkward standing next to her in his beat up combat boots while she’s rocking designer shoes that hadn’t even hit the runway yet. And God, he can’t even count the amount of things they’ve gotten away with just because her father is Hiram Lodge, it’s kind of insane actually. 

She’s loud and prissy though, which is a stark contrast from his best friend. Jughead’s pretty sure that Archie isn’t even aware of how much the necklace that Veronica had gotten him for their one year anniversary is. He’s sure that if Archie did know, he’d probably feel a little embarrassed about the simple locket that he’d gotten Veronica, but Jughead knows that Veronica doesn’t give a damn about the cost of Archie’s gifts. She loves and cherishes everything that Archie gives her, including the tacky little ring he’d won from an arcade once. Despite the fact that she’s richer than any of them could ever imagine being, she never acts like it. She’s really down-to-earth and sweet and Jughead’s glad that he met her now instead of when he was an asshole in high school. 

“Do you have class today?” Betty asks, changing the subject. 

“No, why?” 

“Well, I just need to turn this paper in and then I’m done. Do you want to go with me to the mall before we meet up with everyone? I need to get my necklace fixed and I don’t want to go tomorrow when everyone will be there.” 

Jughead nods. “Want me to just take you to class? I can wait while you turn everything in and we can just go from there.” 

“Okay, yeah, if you don’t mind.” 

“I never mind when it’s you, Betts. You know this.” 

Betty smiles shyly at him and he has the sudden urge to wrap her in his arms. 

He’s never been one to really hold things or people close to his heart. He grew up in a family where someone was constantly leaving him and coming back. He’s not used to having stability and he’s long since given up on chasing it. Aside from Archie, there had never been someone that he had considered “his”, someone that he knew would always be by his side no matter what--and then he met Betty. 

They’d both been so lost and confused their first day here, not knowing where they fit in and who they could trust, but then they had met each other and everything had fallen into place. Jughead feels protective over Betty in a way that he doesn’t with anyone else, and sometimes it’s a little intimidating to him. The things that he feels for her are unlike anything he’s ever felt before, for anyone or anything. Sometimes he feels like he would give up everything for her, just to see her happy and safe. It’s a scary feeling, but the kind that makes your heart race and body float. It’s the kind that you willingly chase, that you yearn for. 

He feels lucky, in a lot of ways, that she’s his best friend. If there’s anyone that he’d want to feel like this over, it’s her. Only her. 

“You’re staring,” she teases him and kicks his leg with her foot that’s currently missing a sock. He reaches down and grabs her freshly painted toes, squeezing them and causing her to yelp. 

“You just look so beautiful in the morning, I can’t help it,” he jokes. It’s not really a joke, though. Even with her hair all over the place and her face puffy from the late night filled with stress and tears, she still looks like the prettiest girl he’s ever seen. 

Betty rolls her eyes and goes back to eating her breakfast. Jughead drops her foot and works on cleaning up the kitchen, letting her eat in silence. 

“Jug?” She says quietly after about ten minutes. 

“Yeah?” 

“I like waking up like this.” 

He looks at her in confusion and her cheeks redden. 

“With you,” she continues, and her face grows even more red. “I mean, well, you know, it’s nice to wake up and you’re here and--.” 

“Betty,” he cuts her off, realizing that she’s just rambling. She looks up at him, clearly embarrassed, but he just smiles down at her. “It is nice. I’m glad that we’re roommates.” 

“Yeah?” 

He nods. “I think we should be roommates forever.” 

Betty laughs, looking a lot more at ease now. “It’s the only logical thing to do. I would miss you way too much if you ever left me.” 

He leans over the bar and takes Betty’s cheeks into his hand, squeezing them and making her lips puff out at him. She gives him an unamused look, but doesn’t try to pull away from him. 

“Good thing I’m never leaving you then,” he tells her. “You’re stuck with me forever.” 

“Forever?” She repeats when she pulls her face out of his grasp. She reaches for his hand though, opting to play with his fingers mindlessly--her nervous tick that she’s had since he’s met her--as she looks up at him, green eyes glistening. “You promise?” 

“‘Course I do.” 

“You don’t think you’ll ever get bored of me?” 

“I really don’t think that’s possible.” And he doesn’t. He can’t imagine ever getting bored or tired of Betty. Hell, he moved in with her _because_ he didn’t want to be without her. That has to tell you something, right? “And whenever we get married, our spouses will just have to deal with us all living together, right?” 

He laughs as he says the words, but Betty just gives him a faint smile. 

“Right,” she echoes quietly. “Okay, well, this was delicious, thank you. I’m gonna go take a shower and get ready.” 

“Alright,” he says, a little taken aback by the suddenness of her words. 

She gets up and puts her plate in the sink before making her way back towards her bedroom. Jughead watches her the entire time, feeling like he’s somehow said something wrong. He thinks about his words, but he can’t figure out what could have possibly upset her, so he figures that he’s just imagining things. 

He finishes cleaning up and doesn’t give it a second thought. 

.

.

.

No matter how often he comes to them, clubs will never really be his thing. 

He’ll never understand why his friends insist on coming to one all the time, but anytime he brings that up, they alway remind him that he’s more than welcome to stay his ass at home, which usually shuts him up. 

“Jughead!” Toni screeches over the loud music. “Here, drink!” She hands him a glass of something that more or less looks like tea to him and when he drinks it, he nearly downs the entire thing from how good it is. “Woah, Jug, don’t go too crazy with those,” she says with a laugh. “Long Island’s will definitely get you fucked up really quick.” 

“Oh, my God,” Cheryl says from where she’s sitting on her girlfriend’s lap, “do you remember when Archie drank like six of them?” 

“They didn’t taste like they had any alcohol in them!” Archie defends with a pout. 

“Yeah, babe,” Toni snorts, “that’s the point.” 

“I don’t think I’ll ever forget having to carry you home,” Veronica says. “I also do not forgive you guys for leaving me with his drunk ass that night.” Despite her words, she leans against Archie and he wraps a protective arm around her chest as he holds her to him. 

“Once he started trying to sing to you, I was out,” Toni says. “There are some things I don’t want to hear and Archie drunkenly singing ‘Heaven Is A Place On Earth’ to you is one of them.” 

“Hey,” Archie whines and Veronica pats his arm in comfort, letting him know that she liked his drunken cover. “You guys suck.” 

Toni and Cheryl proceed to fawn over him and let him know that they love his singing and then they spend the next couple of minutes trying to get him to sing a song for them, which he doesn’t do purely out of spite. 

“Can I have a taste?” Betty asks Jughead as their other friends argue over whatever nonsense it is they argue over. She snuck up on him. He hadn’t been expecting her body to show up in his line of vision, since she’d last been hovering over Cheryl and Toni, but he’s glad that her attention is on him right now. 

She looks really good tonight. She doesn’t go all out the way that Veronica and Cheryl do, but she still dresses up more than she normally would. She’s in a baby blue dress that sparkles in the light. It’s tight and hugs her curves perfectly. There’s even a little cutout underneath her chest and Jughead doesn’t really see the point of it, but he also has a hard time looking away. Maybe that’s the point. Either way, she’s the prettiest girl in this place tonight and he really hopes that she knows it too. 

He doesn’t say anything. He just holds the straw out to her and watches as her lips wrap around it. She drinks from it feverishly, like she’s been deprived from liquids all day. 

“Woah,” he laughs, “you trying to get wasted here, Cooper?” 

Betty pulls away and Jughead’s eyes focus on the wetness of her lips. There’s a drop of liquor that’s dangling from her bottom lip and he’s dying to reach out and wipe it away for her, but her tongue swipes over it before he can. 

“Might as well,” she says with a smile. “You’ll take care of me, won’t you, Juggie?” She bites at her lip and he wonders if maybe she’s had a little more to drink than he originally thought. As it is, he’s had about two drinks prior to this Long Island and maybe that’s why her words seem to have a double meaning to him. 

“Don’t I always?” He counters back and Betty swallows before she nods slowly. She steps closer to him and Jughead opens his legs a little wider for her. Since he’s sitting down she’s able to slot herself in between his legs easily and Jughead reaches out to steady her whenever she sways on her feet a little. “Okay, seriously how many shots did you guys do when I wasn’t paying attention?” 

Betty laughs and Jughead can feel the vibration from where he’s holding onto her waist. 

“Only a few,” she says with a grin. She isn’t slurring her words and she can maintain eye contact with him still, so he knows that she isn’t actually drunk, but she’s still swaying a little and every couple of seconds she’ll close her eyes for a little longer than necessary so he knows that she has to be at least tipsy. “Get on my level.” 

Jughead snorts. “Yeah, no. Your level is way too high for me, pretty girl.” Betty blushes at the words and Jughead smiles softly at the shyness. 

He’s never been one for drinking. His childhood was clouded by his alcoholic father and it’s a habit that he doesn’t want to somehow bring into his own life. He’s fine having a couple of drinks, and he doesn’t mind getting a little tipsy, but he’s not about getting completely wasted or blackout drunk. He doesn’t mind when his friends do it, though. If anything, he hangs around to make sure that they don’t get themselves into too much trouble. Heaven knows that Cheryl and Veronica need a constant chaperone when they get drunk. 

“Ugh,” a loud groan rings out and he and Betty turn their heads to see Cheryl sticking her tongue out at them. “You guys are so gross, stop eye fucking in public.” Toni must pinch Cheryl, because the redhead lets out a tiny yelp and glares at her girlfriend until she sees the hard look that Toni is giving her and then she’s pouting. “What? It’s gross!” 

“We aren’t eye fucking,” Jughead says, feeling like a damn child. The comment doesn’t bother him. Cheryl gets way too mouthy whenever she’s drunk and this isn’t the worst thing she’s ever told them. It just gets a little annoying, though. He doesn’t understand why she always has to say something about him and Betty. They’re just friends. They’ve always just been friends and it’s weird whenever their friends try to act like that’s going to change. 

Jughead looks down at Betty to see how she’s feeling, but he’s shocked to see that she’s currently sipping away at his drink. 

“Betty!” He pulls the drink away from her. He tries to frown, but he’s so taken aback that he laughs instead. 

“Dance with me,” she randomly says. Her cheeks are red and she’s not really looking him in the eyes, but she reaches out and grabs one of his hands, playing with his fingers. “I want to dance.” 

Jughead grimaces. “Why don’t you ask one of the girls? I don’t really feel like dancing.” 

Betty looks up at him with a frown. “Come on, Jug.” 

“Betts, you know I don’t like dancing…” 

“I know, but please, I really like this song.” Jughead pays attention to the song playing and looks at her in confusion. He knows damn well that Betty doesn’t know this song. He’s about to just roll his eyes and give in, despite the fact that he knows he’s going to look like such an idiot, when someone taps on Betty’s shoulder. 

It’s almost comical the way that everyone in their group of friends is currently gawking at the man who just had the courage to walk up to Betty and Jughead midconversation. 

“I’ll dance with you,” the man says and Betty’s mouth drops open in surprise just as Jughead’s jaw clenches in annoyance. “Sorry, I don’t mean to interrupt. I just heard that you really like this song and well, it sounds like you want to dance. I’d love to dance with you, if your boyfriend doesn’t mind that is.” 

_What the fuck?_

Jughead thinks it’s a real testament to how unhinged this guy is in that he’s here asking Betty to dance with him despite the fact that she’s currently standing in between Jughead’s legs, his right hand on her waist while she plays with his left. They aren’t dating, they’re just friends, but still. This guy doesn’t know that and he hadn’t had any shame about trying to get Betty to dance with him. Seriously, what the hell is wrong with him? 

“Um,” Betty drags out as she stares at the stranger and for some reason, Jughead finds himself growing annoyed at her lack of rejection. She’s still holding Jughead’s hand, for fucks sake. There’s no way that she’s seriously considering leaving with this guy, right? He’s expecting her to tell him to fuck off, but he’s definitely not ready for her to quietly say, “He’s not my boyfriend.” 

He hears someone--probably fucking Cheryl--choke and then cackle at Betty’s answer and he drops his hand from Betty’s waist as if she were burning him. She still holds onto his hand, though. He doesn’t know if he wants to rip it out of her grasp or hold onto her even tighter. 

“Oh,” the man says, surprised. He looks down to where Betty is still clutching Jughead’s hand in hers and Jughead wants nothing more than to tell him to get away from them, but then his eyes are back on Betty and he smiles. “Great. So does that mean yes?” 

Jughead is glaring daggers into his man’s head, but the brunette doesn’t even seem to notice. His eyes are focused on Betty and Betty only. 

“I um,” Betty drags out. She looks back towards Jughead and her face falls as she does. He has no idea why. “Jug?” 

“What?” He asks, voice clipped. He knows that he probably sounds like an asshole, but he can’t help it. He’s annoyed right now. He had been in the middle of a conversation with his friend when some random douchebag wearing a fucking sweater inside of a club, decided to meddle where he clearly wasn’t wanted. Jughead had literally just been about to get up to go dance with Betty and this fucking guy just had to interrupt. It’s annoying. 

Betty just looks at him, clearly upset, before turning back towards the man with a forced smile. 

“I’m sorry, I’m with my friends tonight.” 

The guy doesn’t even look moved by that. He just smiles at her anyway and nods. 

“Alright, well, if you change your mind…” Like a fucking movie, the guy reaches into his pocket and pulls out a damn business card. “Here’s my number. Call me sometime.” 

Betty drops Jughead’s hand and takes the card, but now she looks a lot more dazed than before. The man gives her one last grin and then leaves. Jughead lets out a sigh. Thank fuck that he’s gone, now--. 

“Oh, my God!” Veronica screeches as she jumps off of Archie’s lap to run over to Betty. “Betty, do you know who that was?” 

Betty shakes her head but looks down at the business card. “Aaron Emerson?” 

“Who the hell is Aaron Emerson?” Jughead asks and Veronica gives them both an exasperated look. 

“Of course you two wouldn’t know! He’s like, a baseball superagent! He’s been in Forbes and Time 100. His Instagram page is an absolute gem too! You have to follow him.” 

“Since when do you keep up with sports agents?” Archie asks, looking at his girlfriend like she’s lost her mind. 

“It’s my job to keep up with all the hottest people under the age of thirty-five,” she says gracefully. Archie doesn’t even bat an eyelash at the fact that she’s just called another man hot right in front of his face. He’s used to it by now. He’s also completely confident in his relationship with Veronica. Jughead has to give him props for that. He’s not sure many men could handle dating Veronica Lodge with ease. “But seriously, Betty, oh my gosh! I can’t believe that he came up to you.” 

“Ouch,” Cheryl calls out and Toni swats her playfully. 

“Not like that,” Veronica says with an eye roll. “I just meant that it’s insane we even happen to be at the same club as him. I would definitely use that number if I were you.” 

Betty looks down at the card and shrugs. She looks embarrassed right now and Jughead wishes that everyone would just back off. Who cares if the guy was some sports agent? Betty doesn’t like sports agents. That’s way too boring for her. 

“She doesn’t even like sports,” Jughead blurts out and everyone looks at him funny. 

“She doesn’t need to like sports,” Toni says, giving him a pointed look. “She’d be dating Aaron, not an actual baseball.” 

Jughead glares at her. The joke isn’t that funny, despite the way Cheryl and Archie laugh at it, and anyway, “She’s not going to date Aaron!” 

Betty and Veronica both look at him, surprise written all over their faces. Cheryl is suddenly whispering enthusiastically to Toni who is now glaring at Jughead and Archie… Archie is now stuffing his face with his loaded nachos, refusing to pay attention to the current shit show happening right in front of him. 

Jughead snaps his mouth shut, but he doesn’t take back his statement. He doesn’t know why everyone is looking at him funny right now. It’s not like he lied. Betty doesn’t even know who the hell this guy is, she’s not going to be dating him anytime soon. Besides, if this guy was sleazy enough to come up to her in a random club without even knowing who the hell she was, then who’s to say that he’s not doing that to every other girl in this place? He’s probably passing out his stupid business card like it’s candy. 

“Um,” Veronica draws out, annoyed, “no offense, Jughead, but Betty can date whoever she wants.” 

“I never said she couldn’t!” God, it’s just like Veronica to twist his words like that. 

“I’m not going to date him,” Betty says, obviously wanting her friends to stop arguing. “I don’t even know him, V.” 

“See,” Jughead throws out his arms. “I told you.” 

Veronica narrows her eyes at him briefly before turning to Betty with a softer look on her face. “Well, of course you don’t know him, B! That’s why he gave you his card. You should call him this week and _get_ to know him.” Betty opens her mouth, but Veronica’s talking way too fast. “It’s about time that you let yourself be happy.”

Jughead frowns at Veronica’s words. _Let herself_ be happy? Is Betty not letting herself be happy? The words are so weird to say and he wants to ask what she means by them, but Betty’s glaring at her so hard that he figures maybe now isn’t the right time. 

“I am happy,” Betty says through her teeth. She’s trying to smile, but it looks so forced that it almost looks scary on her face. 

“Ronnie!” Archie says through a mouthful of nachos. “Come here and try this, babe.” 

It’s obvious what he’s trying to do, but thankfully Veronica doesn’t seem like she’s in the mood to argue tonight. She just gives Betty one last wary look before she walks back over to Archie and takes the nacho that he’s trying to feed her. 

It’s a little awkward once Veronica leaves them. The area that they’re sitting in is just big enough that each of the couples can be in their own world without having to overhear whatever it is that their friends are saying. Usually Jughead likes that, because he gets to talk one-on-one with Betty without Cheryl trying to butt in and say some weird shit like she usually does. Right now though, he’s kind of wishing that they were in a tiny booth so he could rely on the conversation of others to get him and Betty out of this awkward moment. 

He doesn’t know what to say to her. On some level he’s aware that he had acted kind of strange earlier, but he doesn’t really know how to apologize for that because he’s not even sure what he’d really be apologizing for. He’s not even sure why he acted the way that he did or why he even had an issue with any of it. So saying ‘sorry for being weird’ doesn’t seem to really cut it. 

Eventually Betty must get tired of the silence between them because she steps a little closer to him. She doesn’t sway like she had been earlier, but Jughead still reaches out for her on reflex. 

“I’m not going to call him,” Betty tells him suddenly. 

“What?” 

“Aaron. I’m not going to call Aaron. I just took the card because I didn’t want to be rude.” 

Oh. The thought calms something down inside of him, but because he’s an idiot who doesn’t know when to just let something go, he says, “I don’t care if you call him.” 

The words sound harsh, but it’s not what he’s going for at all. From the way Betty’s face curls up, he sees that he sounds like more of an asshole than he meant to. 

“I just mean that it’s not up to me to decide that,” he continues, voice softer. “If you wanna give the guy a call then give him a call.” 

“Really?” She asks, sounding put off. “You mean that?” 

Now it’s his turn to look at her strangely. “Well, yeah? I’m not your boyfriend, Betts. It really doesn’t matter what I think, does it?” Even if for some reason, he kind of wishes that weren’t true. 

Betty purses her lips but doesn’t say anything else. 

“B!” Veronica calls out before either of them can figure out just what the hell is going on right now. The brunette is grinning at her best friend and Cheryl and Toni are holding hands behind her, looking just as excited. “Come dance with us!” 

Betty doesn’t even look back at Jughead before she follows the three girls off to the dancefloor. 

Jughead watches her leave. Her hair sways as she throws her head back to laugh at something that Toni says and he wishes that he could hear her laugh. He clenches his fist as he wonders what the hell is wrong with him. He has no idea why he had been so annoyed when Aaron had approached Betty. It’s not like it’s the first time Betty’s been hit on. She’s gorgeous, anyone with eyes can see that, and it’s pretty often that someone will come up to her and try to hit on her. Usually though, they back off whenever they see Jughead. He’s never actually had someone disregard him so easily, especially when he had clearly been in the middle of something with her. 

Betty turns around, as if she can feel his gaze on her, and when their eyes connect he feels his heart stutter. He inhales sharply and Betty smiles at him. It doesn’t quite match her eyes, though. 

“Don’t worry,” Archie says from next to him, startling Jughead as he throws his arm over Jughead’s shoulders. “You know you don’t ever have to worry about losing Betty.” 

But as Betty turns around and smiles as she throws her arms up to dance with her friends, looking happier than she had been just moments before with him, he’s not too sure. 

.

.

.

Two weeks pass and Jughead all but forgets about the incident at the club. 

He gets a new assignment for his photography class; one that ends up taking up all his free time. The juniors and seniors are participating in a winter showcase and they’re all allowed to turn in up to five pieces. Jughead’s been freaking out because he has no idea what the hell he’s going to turn in and the deadline is in three weeks. 

“What about those pieces from last year?” Toni asks as the two of them eat sushi together, trying to sort through the pictures they’ve taken in the past week to see if there’s anything they like. “They were really good.” 

“Yeah, but they’re from _last year_. I want to do something new.” He picks up the photos he’d taken of passersby at the city park yesterday and frowns. They look like shit. There’s no meaning behind them. Hell, there’s no meaning behind anything that he’s tried to shoot lately. His muse is gone and now he’s left with nothing. Brilliant. 

“Well I was thinking about taking a little road trip to the countryside this weekend,” Toni tells him through a mouthful of sushi. “You’re welcome to come and see if something works for you.” 

He huffs. That doesn’t sound too bad honestly, but he’s never been a huge nature photographer. He likes taking photos of people. He likes capturing their feelings, whether they’re happy or sad or angry. He likes capturing moments that they can look back at and remember fondly. 

“Maybe,” he says quietly as he picks up another photo and tosses it aside. Quite frankly, he’s sick of this. They’ve been at it for two hours and he’s over it. He stretches his arms and legs and throws himself into Toni’s couch, kicking his feet up onto the coffee table in front of him carelessly. 

“Would you get your feet down?” Toni scolds, hitting him with her elbow. “Cheryl’s going to come home any minute and if she sees you doing that she’s going to kick your ass and I’m not going to stop her this time.” 

“Like Little Red could even touch this,” he jokes, causing Toni to hit him again. “Fine, fuck!” He takes his feet down and kicks them back and forth. “Where’s she at anyway? I thought she didn’t have classes on Tuesday.” 

“She doesn’t,” Toni says absentmindedly. “She’s meeting with some fancy designer who wants to see about having her intern for them.” 

“No shit? I didn’t know what.” 

“She’s been pretty quiet about it. I think she’s scared that they won’t pick her, which is absolutely ridiculous. Her work is amazing, but you know how she can get.” 

Jughead nods. Cheryl’s studying to be a fashion designer. She’s been in love with fashion ever since she was a child, and she’s been designing and making clothes since she was fourteen. Jughead’s seen her stuff; hell, she’s even made him a few articles of clothing that he still proudly wears, so he feels like he has the right to say that she’s amazing. Still, she has the tendency to think that she’s not good enough, even though it’s bullshit and they all know it. He feels like it might have something to do with her family growing up. Cheryl doesn’t open up much about her childhood, but from what he does know, her parents weren’t exactly the most supportive people around, which is why Jughead, Toni, and their friends are constantly reminding her of how amazing she actually is. It sucks that she still can’t believe it sometimes. 

“I’m sure she’ll get it,” he tells Toni, who’s looking a little worried for her girlfriend. “And if she doesn’t, we can just sabotage the designer’s works.” Toni laughs loudly at that, which is why they don’t hear the front door open and close. 

“Girlfriend! It went amazing!” Cheryl cries out, running into the living room where Toni and Jughead are and throws herself onto her girlfriend’s lap. She places a kiss onto Toni’s cheek and then turns towards Jughead with a smile. “Girlfriend’s boyfriend, hello!” 

“I told you to stop calling me that,” he says as he rolls his eyes. 

“Well, it’s very obvious that anytime I’m not with my love, _you_ are! God, if you weren’t in love with Betty I’d be concerned.” 

Toni gives Cheryl an unamused look, but Jughead just sighs at the redhead. 

“Okay. One, Toni is literally like a sister to me, that’s disgusting and please don’t ever insinuate anything like that ever again. Two, I am not in love with Betty, Cheryl, what the fuck?” His heart races as he says the words. Seriously, this is the second time Cheryl has made some kind of jab at them and he doesn’t understand why. 

“Oh, okay,” she drags out, obviously not believing him. “Well then I guess you won’t mind when I tell you--.” 

“Cheryl!” Toni says sternly, causing Cheryl to shut her mouth immediately. 

“Tell me what?” He asks, annoyed. 

“Nothing,” Toni says, “she’s being a brat. She’s just trying to get you worked up. Right, Cher?” 

Cheryl smiles sweetly. “Sorry, Jug. You’re just so easy to mess with.” 

“Lovely, Cheryl, as always.” He gets up from the couch. He knows that Cheryl’s lying. She doesn’t say shit just to say it, and he knows that she was about to tell him something that would piss him off. He doesn’t know whether he’s happy or not that Toni stopped her. “I better get going.” 

“You don’t have to,” Toni tells him and even Cheryl looks upset now. 

“Yeah,” the redhead says, “I was only kidding, Jug, don’t get upset.” 

“I’m not upset.” And to prove it, he gives them a forced smile. He knows they can see right through it. “I told Betty I would bring her home a fruit tart, though, so I need to go to the cafe before they close.” 

“Alright,” Toni says, eyeing him closely. “Well, be careful. Text me when you’re home.” 

He picks up his portfolio that he’d brought with him and nods. “See you guys later.” 

The entire time that he’s getting Betty her damn pastry, he thinks about Cheryl’s words. 

He knows that their friends have always been a little confused about the nature of his friendship with Betty. He knows that they’re a little more affectionate and touchy than the average friends, but that’s just how they’ve always been. He’s always been able to act a certain way with Betty, one that he can’t act with Veronica, Cheryl, or Toni despite being just as close to them, and it’s always just felt normal. They both seem to understand the unspoken rules of their friendship; that even though it may look like they’re dating to an outsider, they’re not. They’re just friends. They’re _best_ friends. 

So he doesn’t understand why all of the sudden, Cheryl’s making these weird comments. And it doesn’t help that Veronica had nearly pounced on him after that whole Aaron debacle. She had actually ended up going off on him in a text message two days later. She more or less threatened him with bodily harm if he ever even thought about holding Betty back from something or someone purely because he didn’t want to lose her attention. 

He has no idea what Veronica had been drinking that day and he told her as much. He’s never, not once, tried to hold Betty back from anything, and that includes all the slimey idiots at their school. It’s not his fault that she has a good sense of character and turns them all down right away. He doesn’t understand why Veronica is getting mad at him for something that isn't even his fault. Seriously, what the hell does he have to do with Betty not wanting to call that damn sports agent? 

A small part of him can’t help but be satisfied at the thought that she _did_ turn him down. He’s not even sure why it is that he’s so happy, but he can’t push away the feeling no matter how hard he tries. 

He’s still smirking to himself by the time he’s back in their apartment and Betty catches him immediately, since she’s sitting in the living room. 

“What’s got you so smiley?” She asks him. She’s painting her toenails as she watches an old episode of Supernatural. 

“Can’t I just be happy to see my best friend after a long day?” He retorts. He reaches into the takeout bag and grabs the small container holding her desert, as well as a fork, before he walks over to her and takes a seat on the couch. 

“Well, that’s what I’m here for,” Betty smiles, “to brighten up your day.” 

“My sunshine,” Jughead coos at her playfully, causing her to reach out and smack his arm lightly as she diverts her eyes from his. 

“You’re gross.” 

“Maybe, but you still love me anyway.” 

Betty throws him a shy smile before pointing at the container in his hands. “For me?” 

“Of course. I told you I would get you some today.” 

“I thought maybe you’d forget.” 

He’s almost insulted by that. “Not when it comes to you, Betts.” He opens up the container and cuts a tiny piece off with his fork before holding it out for Betty. “Open up.” 

She gives him an unamused look before doing as he told her. He feeds her the fruit tart and she lets out a soft moan as she tastes it. His mouth drops open slightly as he watches her lick at her lips where one of the berries had smeared. 

“That’s really good. Thank you.” 

“Mhm,” he hums out and offers up another small piece, which she eats before going back to painting her nails. “So what have you done today?” 

“I went out for lunch with Veronica and Archie. We tried that new pizza place downtown. You’d probably love it.” 

“Oh yeah? Well then we can go together sometime next week.” 

Betty smiles at him. “Alright.” 

They sit in silence for the next thirty minutes as they watch Supernatural. Betty paints her nails and Jughead feeds her pieces of the tart every now and then. They make offhand comments about the episode here and there, considering the fact that they’ve seen this entire series more times than they can count. 

“Would you sell your soul to a crossroads demon to bring me back to life?” Betty asks out of nowhere. 

Jughead looks at her and laughs at the innocent look on her face. She looks so genuinely curious and it’s kind of adorable. She tilts her head at him and he hums. 

“I don’t know… It would be nice to finally have my own place.” 

Betty’s mouth drops open and Jughead laughs at the horrified look on her face. She kicks at him carefully with her heel and he dodges it easily, catching her ankle and squeezing it lightly. 

“You are such a jerk!” She whines, pouting at him. “I don’t know why I’m friends with you.” 

“Aw, you don’t mean that.” Jughead leans forward so that he’s slightly hovering over Betty. Her eyes widen as she closes her mouth, staring up at him in wonder. “You love me.” 

“No, I don’t,” she says softly. 

“No?” He’s so close to her right now, he hadn’t even noticed. It’s like his body had been slowly bringing itself closer to hers, wanting to be as close to her as possible. He can’t help but realize that if he would lean in just a little bit more… he could kiss her. 

“You’re mean to me.” She pouts up at him and he feels like he can’t breathe. 

“I’m sorry,” his voice is nearly a whisper. “Forgive me?” 

Betty hums out. “I don’t think so.” 

“But I brought you your favorite snack.” 

“Tell me you love me.” 

It’s something they do sometimes. He doesn’t really know when it started or who even started it, but now it’s just _them_. He thinks that maybe the both of them had known what it was like to have people say they loved you when they didn’t really mean it. The thing about Jughead and Betty is that they _do_ mean it. They both mean it with everything inside of them and they just know it; they don’t even have to prove it. They’re comfortable and secure in their love for each other and Jughead’s never had anything more precious to him. 

He’s never had someone in his life like Betty. She’s his best friend; the most important person. He doesn’t know what he would do without her and the thought alone is almost enough to send him into a panic. He’d never do anything to jeopardize having her in his life. 

“I love you,” he tells her with a smile. 

“So stop being mean to me.” 

He laughs at Betty’s words and she grins. He sits back up and settles on the other end of the couch, allowing Betty to sit up straight again. Her cheeks are flushed and she bites at her lip nervously. 

“You have my sincerest apologies, ma’am,” he says with a thick Southern accent. Betty rolls her eyes at him and he laughs. 

“Betty?”

“Yeah?” 

“I’d burn the world to the ground if it meant I could bring you back if I ever lost you.” 

She inhales sharply and Jughead swallows. 

“You shouldn’t say things like that,” she says with a crooked smile. “You could really make a girl fall in love with you.” 

She turns her attention back to the TV, but Jughead doesn’t stop staring at her for the next five minutes.

.

.

.

The fall carnival comes into town a week later. 

They all decide to go together on Saturday, which just so happens to be the coldest night of the month so far. They’ve only been on two rides so far, but Jughead already feels like he has frostbite on his cheeks. 

He brought his camera along in case he ended up getting inspired by something, but so far it’s just been laying limp against his chest. 

“Do you want to share a candy apple with me?” Betty asks him. Their arms are linked and she’s cuddling up close to him for warmth. It should be weird, and maybe it would be weird if it were anyone else, but with Betty it just feels normal. 

“Sure.” 

The two of them tell the rest of their friends that they’ll meet up with them later before they make their way to the food booths. 

“Remember when Archie ate those three funnel cakes last year and threw up all over Cheryl’s new shoes?” Betty asks with a laugh. 

“God, that was so gross.” Jughead scrunches up his nose but snorts as he remembers the exact face Cheryl had made when it happened. “I’m pretty sure she was plotting his murder in her head.” 

“And then he spent all his money he saved from his shows to buy her a new pair!” Betty pouts. 

“So Cheryl booked him at that badass club so he could make all the money back.” Jughead smiles. Yeah, their friend group might be a little dysfunctional sometimes and none of them really make sense, but it doesn’t matter. They all love and would do anything for each other. “I think that’s the nicest thing she’s ever done.” 

“Probably so. I think it’s because they’re both redheads. They have some kind of weird truce or understanding or something.” 

Jughead laughs loudly and tugs Betty forward. “Hurry up and order your candy apple, you dork.” 

Betty rattles off the order and even gets them a large homemade lemonade to share. It doesn’t exactly sound like the best combo, but it’s carnival food and it’s freaking good. They had tried making candy apples once and it resulted in some of the worst tasting food he’d ever tried. He’s not even sure how you can mess up candy apples that bad, and he’s not sure who decided to add so much fucking salt, but his bet is still on Archie. Either way, this is the only time they get candy apples _this_ good and they’re not about to pass that up. 

The total is way overpriced, but Jughead doesn’t even complain as he hands over the money. He can tell that Betty wants to argue over him paying, but he gives her a single look that has her closing her mouth and huffing at him. 

She forgets all about being mad as soon as he hands her the food. 

“How the hell are they always so damn good?” She moans as she takes a bite out of one of the slices. Some of the red from the coating glosses her lips and Jughead has to pull his eyes away from them before she notices that he’s being a creep. “Try some, Juggie.” She holds out the same slice she’d taken a bite from for him to try. 

He should grab it from her fingers. It’s too tiny of a slice to bite off and he doesn’t want to swallow her fingers, so reaching for it and taking it with his hand would be the smart idea. Of course, though, Jughead Jones is a complete dumbass who doesn’t know, and will probably never know, how to act right in front of Betty Cooper. 

He leans forward and wraps his lips around the slice. He means to suck it into his mouth so that he won’t touch Betty’s hand, but instead he maneuvers the slice further into his mouth with his tongue, dragging Betty’s fingers along as well. 

The tips of her fingers just _barely_ pass his lips. They rest heavy on the velvet of his tongue. They’re so fucking cold and he knows that his mouth must feel like a furnace to them. They’re coated with the sweet red candy and before Jughead can even think about what he’s doing, his tongue drags along the tips of her fingers lightly, tasting the sugar and wishing he could have more. 

Betty’s been staring at his mouth the entire time; her mouth open just the tiniest bit and her eyes hooded as if she’s in a daze. 

He should pull away from her. He should clear his throat and act like this never happened. This is weird, he shouldn’t be doing this. Friends definitely do not do this shit with their friends. He’s being a creep and any minute now Betty is going to hit him and tell him to leave her alone. 

God, what is he even doing? He’s never done something like this before. He’s certainly never _wanted_ to do something like this before. Right? For a moment, he really thinks about it and then he shakes his head. 

No. No way. 

It’s just because of all the stupid shit Cheryl’s been saying lately. It must be messing with his head, because, not for the first time since he’s known her, he’s looking down at Betty and he can’t help but think that she’s the most beautiful person he’s ever seen. But, for the first time, it makes him want to do something stupid.

Underneath all the bright carnival lights, surrounded by the hoards of people and the loud laughter and conversation, all he can see is Betty. And she’s beautiful. And he wants to kiss her. 

“Does it taste good?” Betty asks, her voice so soft that it nearly drowns in all the noise around them. It tears Jughead out of his thoughts, but he stays completely still as her eyes finally lock onto his. 

He nods slowly and pulls back from her. Her fingers stay in the air for a millisecond, still coated in red, before falling back down to her side limply. 

The two of them stand there for a few seconds, unmoving. Neither of them know where the hell they’re supposed to go from whatever _that_ was. 

Luckily they don’t have to think very hard, because suddenly there’s a weight against Jughead as someone jumps onto his back. He startles as he wraps his arms around the person’s legs, looking down at their shoes to see who it is. The black Doc Martens are a dead giveaway. 

“We wanna go to the House of Mirrors!” Toni says, kicking her feet playfully at Betty. “Are you two going to come or what?” 

“I hate the House of Mirrors,” Archie mumbles from next to Veronica. “I always get hurt.” Veronica pats his arm comfortingly. 

“That’s because you like to run through them for some weird reason,” Betty reminds him. “You’re not meant to get through them quickly, Arch.” 

“Well, they creep me out, man. I’m not trying to be in there for any longer than necessary.” 

“You baby,” Veronica teases, leaning up to kiss her boyfriend’s cheek. “I promise I won’t let you get lost.” 

The six of them make their way across the field to where the House of Mirrors is, teasing Archie the entire time. Jughead carries Toni on his back and drops her to the floor gently when they finally get in line. She immediately takes her place by Cheryl’s side, wrapping her arms around the redhead’s waist and resting her chin on her shoulder. Jughead watches them with a smile. They really are a cute couple and he’s just happy that Toni has someone who loves her as much as Cheryl does. 

Hell, he doesn’t know what it is, but even Veronica and Archie are cute to him right now when usually their love and affection is downright painful to watch. 

“Promise to stick with me?” Betty asks, stepping a little closer to him in line. She’s completely bundled up in her large coat and scarf and Jughead wants nothing more than to wrap her up in his arms and squeeze her. 

Huh. Weird. 

“Don’t I always?” He asks. 

“Well, there was that one time that you didn’t and it took me like thirty minutes to finish a seven minute maze.” 

Jughead chokes out a laugh. “That was one time, Betts!” 

“One time is enough.” 

He snorts and throws an arm over her shoulders, pulling her into his side as they move up in the line. 

The maze isn’t that bad at all. They lose the rest of their friends early on, but he knows they’re close by because there’s a loud bang followed by Archie letting out a yelp of pain that causes Betty and Jughead both to lose their minds. 

They’re doing pretty good until about halfway through when Betty accidentally takes a wrong turn and bumps head first into one of the mirrors. 

“Ouch,” she whines softly, bringing her hand up to rub at her now red forehead. 

“You okay?” Jughead asks, stepping into her space and grabbing her face with his hands to check her over. 

“I’m okay. It just hurt a little bit.” She drops her hands from her head and looks up at Jughead, eyes bright. 

“You have to be careful,” he tells her, voice just a little too gentle. He rubs his thumb over the red spot on her head and she closes her eyes at the light touch. “Don’t want you to get hurt now, do we, pretty girl?” 

Betty’s eyes flutter open and she shakes her head slowly. “Nope.” 

“No,” he agrees. He lets his hand trail down her arm and before he can stop himself, he takes her hand into his, intertwining their fingers. Her hand is freezing and he squeezes it tightly, hoping that he can warm it up a little. “Stay close.” 

“Okay,” she whispers. 

Jughead turns around and continues to lead them through the maze of mirrors. They walk in silence except for when they’re trying to figure out which way is the correct way to go. It takes a little while since it’s a bigger maze than usual, but after a while they finally reach the end; a room full of mirrors all along the walls, making it look like it’s never-ending. 

“Wow,” Betty breathes out, looking around the room in awe. “This is so beautiful.” 

Jughead looks around too and he can’t help but agree. 

Every single reflection in this room right now is of Betty. She’s surrounding him; she’s everywhere. It’s like the best kind of heaven. 

She turns to look at him with a smile and suddenly there are dozens of Betty Coopers all over the room, smiling at him like he’s the most precious thing in the world. She looks so happy and beautiful and her smile makes him want to get on his knees and beg for her undying love and affection, which… Fuck. 

_Fuck._

Cheryl’s words from the previous week ring in his head. 

She had said he was in love with Betty and he had quickly shut her down, because well, the idea of being in love with Betty just seemed so crazy to him. She’s his best friend, he can’t be in love with her. Being in love with her would ruin everything for them. There’s no way. There’s just no way. 

“You’re beautiful.” The words slip from his mouth suddenly and without permission, but when Betty’s cheeks redden as she looks down shyly, he can’t find it in himself to be embarrassed by them. 

“You’re sweet,” Betty says with a smile. “Why are you always so sweet to me?” 

His lips curve upwards slowly as he smiles back at her like he’s really looking at her for the first time. 

“Because I love you.” It’s the simplest truth. Despite whatever personal dilemma he’s going through right now with his feelings, one thing remains sure and steady and that’s that he loves Betty Cooper. He’s not sure if it’s even platonic anymore or if he’s just letting Cheryl’s words get to him, but the one thing he knows is that he loves her. That’s unchanging. 

Betty swallows and blinks up at him. 

“And I love you,” she tells him, but her voice sounds off. Before he can comment on it, she clears her throat. “Maybe we should go. I’m sure everyone’s already waiting for us.” 

Jughead nods. “Yeah, maybe we should.” 

Despite their words, neither of them make a move to actually leave. They just stand in the middle of the room staring at each other just as their reflections do. 

“Jughead…” 

“Can I take a picture of you?” 

Betty looks at him in surprise. “Of me?” 

He looks down sheepishly. “Yeah. Sorry. It’s just, this room would be a really cool background.” 

“Oh,” Betty says with a frown. “Um, sure. Okay.” 

For some reason, he feels like he’s said something wrong, but he doesn’t know what. He doesn’t linger on it, though. He just picks up his camera and turns it on as Betty fiddles with her hands awkwardly. 

“Okay,” he says as he focuses on her. “Betty, can you at least look happy to be here?” 

“What?” She asks, frown deepening. “I am happy to be here.” 

“Could have fooled me.” 

“Well, I don’t know what to do! I feel awkward.” 

“Oh, my God, just smile, you dork.” 

In her defense, she _does_ smile, but it just manages to make her look like she’s in pain instead of happy. 

“Elizabeth Cooper,” he says sternly, “smile correctly or I’m going to go over there and make you myself.” 

Betty lets out a loud laugh and Jughead snaps a picture. 

“Ew, what does that even mean?” 

“Exactly what you think it means.” 

“I don’t know what it means!” 

“It means you’re beautiful.” 

Betty stops laughing, but the smile stays on her face. This time it’s genuine. 

He takes a picture. 

“That didn’t even make sense, Jughead Jones.” 

“Most things in life don’t.” He brings his camera down just a little so that he can look at Betty. 

Her green eyes are shining as she looks at him, a smile on her face and looking completely content. He looks at all the mirrors around them and sees her smiling reflection in every single one. 

He brings his camera back up and takes another picture. 

“You could be a model,” he says suddenly and Betty snorts at him. “I’m being serious, Betts. You photograph so beautifully. You’re a natural.” 

“Well, if the FBI doesn’t work out for me then it’s nice to know I can try my luck elsewhere. I just have one condition.”

“Oh yeah? What’s that?” 

“You have to be my photographer.” The song playing in the room changes to a slow and airy tune. Betty smiles, obviously remembering the tune from somewhere, and begins to twirl right there in the middle of the room by herself. She should look silly, and maybe she does to an outsider, but to Jughead she just looks ethereal. 

He snaps a picture, and then another. She looks so beautiful and carefree; he wants to remember this moment forever. He wants to remember how happy she looks, how happy he feels. 

“Yeah?” He asks. “No one can take your picture but me?” 

Betty shakes her head, laughing as she stops twirling and stumbles a little. “Only you, Juggie.” 

Only him. He hates how much he likes the sound of that. 

He knows that Betty isn’t his. She’s not even close to being his and yet there are these moments when it almost feels like she is. This is one of those moments.

He never knows how to handle these moments, and usually they bring him some kind of panic, but right now he just feels at ease. 

It’s a new feeling, but he decides to welcome it. If anything, he can forget about all of these feelings tomorrow, but right now? 

Right now he lets himself feel them; he lets himself entertain the “What If’s”. 

He lets himself wonder what it could be like if Betty were his. 

.

.

.

_Twenty_. 

Jughead drops the weight bar onto the ground, ignoring the loud noise it makes on impact. He rolls his shoulders back and stretches. 

He’s never been a huge gym goer, but lately Archie’s been trying to get him to go anytime he does and Jughead’s just bored enough that he’ll agree. If anything, at least it’s getting rid of his spaghetti arms and giving him some actual muscle. 

“So are you coming to Reggie’s party tomorrow?” Archie asks when he finishes his own rep, hardly breaking a sweat while Jughead is currently drenched. 

“Who the hell has a party on a Wednesday?” Jughead asks, breathing heavily. 

“College people, Jug, college people. I told him you’d come.” 

Jughead just shrugs. “Alright.” 

He’s only met Reggie a handful of times, but he’s a pretty cool guy. Sure, he’s an absolute idiot sometimes and Jughead doesn’t think he’s ever met anyone so subtly chaotic in his entire life, but he means well. Jughead likes him enough, which is more than he can say for most people. 

“So,” Archie drags out after a while, once Jughead begins his next rep, “you and Betty seemed to have a really good time the other night.” 

Jughead gives his best friend a weird look through the mirror. “Uh, yeah? I guess.” 

Archie nods as if he’s realizing something. “You guys seem differently lately.” Jughead just raises an eyebrow at him, not wanting to talk while he’s currently lifting over a hundred pounds. “Has anything… changed?” 

Jughead rolls his eyes as he puts the bar up and begins to take off the weights. 

“Not you too,” he groans and Archie holds his hands up in defense. 

“Look, man, I’m not saying anything. I was put up to this.” 

Jughead glares. “By Veronica, no doubt.” He wipes at his forehead with his shirt. “You know, she really needs to mind her own business sometimes.” 

“Hey,” Archie warns, “watch it. You two can fight all you want, but she’s still my girlfriend. You don’t get to talk like that about her in front of me.” 

Jughead winces, feeling like an asshole. “You’re right, I’m sorry, man. I’m not actually annoyed or anything, I’m just…,” he shrugs, “I don’t know, confused I guess? And it doesn’t help when Cheryl and Veronica have something to say about everything. It just makes it even more overwhelming.” 

Archie nods in understanding. “I get it, man. Don’t worry. You don’t have to actually tell me anything, but I just want you to know that I’m here for you if you want to talk, alright? I do know _some_ things about girls, you know.” 

Jughead laughs. “Yeah, of course you do.” He walks over to the dumbbells and picks up two of his preferred weights before sitting on one of the benches to do his curls. “I think I do, though. Wanna talk.” 

“Oh?” Archie asks, obviously surprised. He takes a seat with his own weights and glances at Jughead. “Well, what’s up?” 

“I don’t know. I don’t even know how to really explain it.” He sighs. “I don’t know what I’m feeling or if it’s even real. How do I know that I’m not just suddenly questioning my feelings for Betty because of what Cheryl and Veronica are saying? Like, what if they’re just subconsciously making me think that I have feelings for Betty?” 

Archie frowns. “I don’t really think that’s what’s happening here, Jug.” 

“But we don’t know that for sure! I mean, I’ve never had these kinds of thoughts or feelings about Betty before and I’ve known her for three years. Don’t you think if I was going to like her that it would have happened already?” 

“Not necessarily. It doesn’t always happen like that,” Archie says like he’s the goddamn Love Guru. “Sometimes it just happens gradually over time without you even realizing it and then one day you’re looking at someone and realizing that you’ve been in love with them the whole time.” 

Jughead looks at his best friend like he’s lost his damn mind. “Dude, you’ve been watching way too many romance movies with Veronica.” 

Archie flips him off. “Probably, but you know I’m right, asshole. 

“Yeah, but I just can’t see it happening with Betty. She’s my best friend.” 

Archie shrugs. “Aren’t those the best kinds of relationships, though?” 

Jughead thinks. Are they? He doesn’t know. He’s never dated his best friend. It’s not like he has some kind of rule or something, because he definitely doesn’t. He’s just never really had a girl best friend, and certainly not one who made his head get all jumbled up like this. It’s confusing. 

“Well, it’s not like I need to make up my mind right now,” Jughead says after a few seconds and he doesn’t miss the way Archie immediately diverts his eyes. “Okay, what the hell was that?” 

“Hmm?” Archie asks as he begins to do his curls. “Can’t talk, gotta focus.” 

“You dick.” Jughead starts his own rep anyway though. As soon as the two of them finish, he’s nearly pouncing on Archie again. “Okay, now tell me what that look was.” 

“What look?” 

“I’m going to throw my fucking dumbbell at you.” 

Archie looks like he’s considering that option before he finally lets out a sigh. “Look, man, I’m not supposed to be telling you anything so you can’t say _shit_.” 

“Okay?” 

“I’m serious, Jug. Veronica will be pissed if she finds out I told you anything.” 

“Alright, alright,” he says, getting a little worried, “I won’t say anything, I promise.” 

Archie nods, but he still looks a little conflicted. Finally though, he begins to talk. 

“I just wouldn’t spend so much time trying to make up your mind,” Archie tells him. “Especially when you and I both know how you really feel.” 

“Why do you say that?” 

Archie looks like he’d rather be anywhere but here when he finally answers. 

“Betty’s been texting that Aaron guy from the club.” 

For a moment, Jughead has no clue who the hell Archie is talking about and then it comes to him as quickly as lightning. He laughs, so taken aback, and gives the redhead an incredulous look. 

“Are you fucking with me right now?” Archie doesn’t laugh with him. “You’re serious?” 

“I don’t think it’s anything serious. I just know that he’s been trying to get her to go on a date with him, but she’s a little apprehensive.” 

“How the hell do you know this?” 

“Because Veronica’s been trying to get her to change her mind.” 

Jughead sees red. Of course. Of course it’s Veronica behind all of this. Fuck, he loves that girl, really he does, but sometimes she could piss him off like no one else. Archie must see that he’s about to say something, because he cuts him off before he can. 

“She just wants Betty to be happy, Jug,” Archie says in defense of his girlfriend. “You can’t be mad at her for wanting to see her best friend happy and in love.” 

“In love?” Jughead barks out, catching the attention of some older woman on the treadmill. He lowers his voice. “There’s no way Betty would ever fall in love with a creep like that.” 

“How is he a creep?” Archie asks, frowning. “He seems like a pretty standup guy.” 

“Oh? He’s a standup guy?” Jughead mocks. He knows he’s being an asshole right now, but he doesn’t care. 

Betty’s been texting Aaron? How did Jughead not know that? Why didn’t she tell him that? She tells him everything and yet she didn’t tell him about this. The crazier part is that he doesn’t understand how he didn’t notice. 

“You know, if you’re so mad then maybe you need to ask yourself why that is.” 

“I’m not mad,” Jughead snaps, clearly pissed off. “I just don’t understand why everyone suddenly decided to keep shit from me.” 

“Woah, what?” Archie nearly shrieks. “Jug, no one is hiding anything from you!” 

“Oh yeah? Well, how long has Betty been texting this guy?” When Archie doesn’t say anything, Jughead nods. “Exactly. You guys kept this from me.” 

“You know, technically we don’t owe you any explanation,” Archie says, getting annoyed now. “You’re not Betty’s boyfriend, despite how much you act like it. She can talk to whoever she wants and Veronica is absolutely in her right to push her towards dating. Maybe you need to take a step back and ask yourself why you’re the only one who doesn’t want to see her happy.” 

“Excuse me?” Jughead seethes, standing up. Archie looks up at him boredly. “You’re really telling me that I don’t want her to be happy? Of course I do!” 

“Are you sure?” Archie stands up too now. “Because if you go home and start acting like an asshole because she’s talking to someone, you’re not going to make her happy.” Archie puts away his weights before turning back towards Jughead. “You need to figure out what the hell you want, Jughead. If you want her then be with her, great, but if you don’t then you need to stop this ridiculous possessive act you have over her. She isn’t some toy that you can play with. She isn’t _yours_. You need to stop messing with her head, because all that’s going to do is confuse and hurt her.” 

“I would never hurt her,” Jughead says, but his voice doesn’t sound as strong as he would like it to. 

“I know you would never _mean_ to hurt her,” Archie says with a sad smile, “and that’s exactly why you will.” 

Archie leaves him and Jughead stays rooted to the ground long after that, Archie’s words bouncing around in his head with no intention of leaving anytime soon. 

.

.

.

When he gets home, Betty’s there. 

She’s fast asleep on the couch. There’s an open textbook on her lap and a highlighter is laying on the floor, right next to her limp arm that hangs off the edge of the couch. 

Jughead walks over to the living room and takes a seat on the coffee table in front of her. 

He feels a little creepy as he stares at her while she’s sleeping, but he promises himself that it’s just for a minute. 

She looks so peaceful right now and he wishes that he could hold her. 

He thinks about Archie’s words; about how he needs to figure out what the hell he wants. 

The truth is that he doesn’t know. His mind is all over the place and he doesn’t know what to think and hearing about Betty’s newfound friendship with Aaron hadn’t helped one bit. He thinks it just made everything worse. 

He’s not so oblivious that he can’t admit that he might feel something aside from friendship for Betty. He doesn’t know when it happened or how, but the feeling is forever lingering now. It rests dormant inside of him until he’s around her and then it bursts free, hitting him right in the gut and consuming every part of him. 

It’s addictive and he wishes that he could hold onto the feeling and see if it could be more. 

He reaches out and brushes away some of Betty’s hair from her face. He closes his eyes and allows himself to pretend for a moment. He pretends that things are different, that they’re together and they’re in love. He pretends that he can lean forward and press his lips to hers. 

Without even realizing, he leans forward, so close that his lips are almost on hers. He wonders if she would even know if he were to kiss her right now. Probably not. He doesn’t know if that thought comforts him or breaks his heart. 

“I wish this feeling could last forever. I wish we could figure this out together,” he whispers to her sleeping form, “but we can’t. I love you so much, Betty, and I’m sorry but I can’t lose you. I can’t risk losing you. You’re my best friend.” He kisses the top of her head tenderly. 

Maybe he loves her as more than a friend. Maybe he does feel something for her. It doesn’t matter. They would get together and break up someday just like every other couple, and then he would lose her completely and that’s just not an option for him. He’d rather have her in his life as his friend, loving her from afar, than potentially lose her forever; no matter how much it kills him. 

He sighs and stands up before leaning down to pick Betty up from the couch. She stirs a little as he lifts her up and carries her bridal style to her bedroom. 

“Jug?” She says, voice hoarse and eyes closed. 

“Shh, go back to sleep. I’m just taking you to your room.” 

Betty hums and presses her face against his chest. “Missed you,” she slurs. 

“I was gone for two hours, you dork.” 

“Too long.” 

Jughead places her onto her bed and tucks her in carefully. It’s not even that late, but Betty’s classes have really been kicking her ass lately so he knows how exhausted she must be. 

“I’ll make you some breakfast in the morning, okay?” Jughead tells her once she’s all but fast asleep again. “Goodnight, Betts.” 

He turns around, about to leave, when her hand shoots out and grabs his wrist. 

“Can you stay?” 

He stiffens at the request. 

It’s not uncommon for them to sleep in each other’s bed. Sometimes they fall asleep to a movie together and it’s fine. Hell, they’ve even cuddled before. It’s normal, it’s cool. It’s really not a big deal at all. Except for that it kind of feels like it is now. 

“I don’t know,” he drags out, already looking at the door. He should go, especially after the realization he’d just come to back in the living room, but he can’t move. And even worse? He wants to stay. He wants nothing more than to cuddle up next to Betty and go to sleep. 

“Please,” she says softly, half asleep. “I always sleep better with you.” 

Fuck. 

Goddamn it. 

Son a _bitch_. 

His dick twitches in his pants for some Godforsaken reason and he immediately starts to think about his great aunt May’s horrible gas problem. There is no way he’s going to get a hardon before he platonically gets into bed with his best friend. No fucking way. 

“Don’t hog all the covers this time or else I’m leaving,” he warns and Betty just smiles lazily. “I need to shower first, though.” 

“Promise you’ll come back?” 

Jughead frowns. “Go to sleep, Betty. I’ll be here.” 

Betty finally lets go of his wrist before she turns in her bed, curling up in a ball as her breathing begins to even out. 

He’s quick about his shower. He goes about his nightly routine afterwards and throws on a pair of sweats and a shirt. Usually he just sleeps in his boxers, but he’s not about to do that with Betty. 

Even though he had promised her that he would go back to her room, he still hovers in front of her door. 

Seriously, what the hell is he doing right now? 

His mind is racing with a million different thoughts. It doesn’t matter that he’s more or less already made up his mind about all of this; he still wonders how Betty really feels. All he’s heard from his friends is how much _he_ likes her; they never say anything about her having any sort of feelings for him. He tilts his head as he looks at her, as if she can give him any kind of insight right now. 

Could Betty possibly like him too? The idea seems a little outrageous at first, but the more he thinks it over, the more he can see it maybe being true. It doesn’t matter, though. What matters is their friendship and Jughead’s not about to do anything that could jeopardize that. 

He takes a step out of her room. 

As he does it, his heart feels heavy. He had told Betty that he would come back, and in a way he did, but he can’t get into bed with her, not now. Doing that is only going to complicate things even more and Jughead doesn’t know if he can deal with all of that right now. He just wants things to be simple again.

He wishes that Cheryl would have just kept her thoughts to herself. He wouldn’t be acting like this if she just would’ve never said anything. 

He closes the door quietly behind him, and spares one last look towards the bed. 

The last thing he sees before he closes the door completely is Betty throwing out her arm on the empty side of the bed, as if she’s searching for something that was never there. 

.

.

.

Jughead’s question to Archie gets answered as soon as all of them walk into Reggie Mantle’s frat house. 

Apparently a lot of people enjoy partying on a Wednesday, because the place is completely packed. There’s hardly any room to walk around and he’s been shoulder checked at least ten different times in the span of five minutes. 

The music is so damn loud that he can barely even hear what it is that Toni’s trying to tell him right now even though she’s right in front of him. He highly doubts it’s anything important so he just smiles and nods as if he understood a single word she said. He must’ve given her the reaction she wants, because she just grins happily before skipping ahead to Cheryl’s side again. 

“It smells like weed in here,” Veronica says loudly as she looks around. “Like some seriously _good_ weed.” 

“What do you know about good weed?” Jughead asks with a laugh. “You smoked half a joint of reggie once and got stupidly high for the rest of the day.” He flicks Veronica’s nose. “Do you know what reggie is? It’s dirt weed, Veronica. You were smoking dirt weed and it got you insanely high. Whatever they’re smoking here would probably kill you.”

“Sorry we can’t all be Marty Mikalski like you,” Veronica says with a glare. Archie gives her a confused look. “It’s a character from a horror movie,” she explains to him. “The stoner scholar.” Archie nods slowly, but he still looks confused.

“I feel like Reggie is the type of guy to only smoke reggie simply because they share the same name,” Betty suddenly says, causing the group to laugh in agreement. 

They continue to make their way around the party. Jughead sees a few people from his classes that he recognizes and he stops and talks to them for a little while. He’s pretty much lost all of his friends at this point, but it doesn’t bother him all that much. He knows that Betty ran off with Veronica and Archie to see if they could find Reggie, while Toni and Cheryl are currently dancing in the living room. As long as they’re all safe and with someone from their group, he can be at ease. 

He takes a sip out of the beer bottle that he’d been handed earlier and looks around the house. Honestly this isn’t his idea of a good time at all and he’s not sure what to do with himself. Should he go dance? Should he try to talk to someone here? God, what the hell do people even do at parties besides get completely wasted or stoned? 

After a while, he makes his way outside. It’s getting way too crowded in the house and he just wants to get some fresh air. 

There are quite a bit of people outside, obviously with the same idea as him, but they’re not loud and obnoxious like everyone inside. They also don’t bother him, which he’s very thankful for. 

He walks over to a gazebo that’s seen better days and takes a seat on the porch swing that’s hanging there. It creaks under his weight and he’s almost scared that it’s going to collapse under him. Eventually he feels comfortable on the swing and he starts to kick his legs out gently, rocking back and forth as he looks up at the sky. 

He’s so zoned out that he doesn’t even realize when someone takes a seat next to him until they actually talk. 

“You know, sitting outside by yourself at a party because you want to be dark and mysterious is _so_ 2013.” 

Jughead startles and sits up straight, causing the swing to unbalance. He reaches out to steady himself and then looks up. 

He recognizes the girl sitting next to him, but only barely. He’s pretty sure her name is Sabrina and he thinks that she might be in his Creative Writing class, but he could be wrong. 

“Do I look like a party guy to you?” He asks, giving her a blank look. 

To his surprise, she laughs. “What exactly does a party guy look like?” 

Jughead shrugs and then points to some random guy making out with a girl on the back porch. “Like that.” 

Sabrina’s eyes follow his and she quirks an eyebrow when she sees who he’s pointing at. 

“Well, if making out is all you have to do then you better put that bottle down and join the rest of the party.” 

Jughead scoffs. “No, thanks. I’m not looking for that either.” 

Sabrina nods eagerly. “Oh! That’s right. You’re dating that girl, right? Um… Betty!”

Jughead looks at her in shock. “What?” He hardly even knows Sabrina and yet she seems to know enough about him. “I’m not dating Betty.” 

“Oh?” Now it’s her turn to be shocked. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to assume. I just always see you guys around campus and I figured you were together.” 

“She’s my best friend,” he clarifies, but something in his chest tightens harshly as he says the words. “Wait, I’m sorry. Your name is Sabrina, right?” 

She doesn’t look annoyed like most people would. Instead she just nods happily at him. 

“Sabrina Spellman,” she confirms with a smile. “We have Creative Writing together.” 

Now he feels like an asshole. Here she is, knowing enough about him to know who Betty is, and he hadn’t even been that sure about her name. 

“No, I know that,” he says quickly. “I’m just a little bad with names. I knew I had a class with you, though.” 

“It’s okay! I don’t talk much in class so I wouldn’t blame you even if you didn’t know my name.” 

Jughead huffs out a laugh. “So what are you doing out here at a party? You’re talking about me, but you’re also out here alone. It’s a little pot-meet-kettle, don’t you think?” 

“Who says I’m alone? I’m with you, aren’t I?” She knocks her shoulder against his with a smile. Jughead smiles back at her before a horrible thought crosses his mind. Oh God, she isn’t flirting with him right now, is she? He really hopes that she isn’t, because he’s not prepared to let some cute girl from CW class down because he’s currently having a crisis over his feelings for his best friend. His face must give away his panic, because Sabrina lets out a laugh. “Don’t worry, I am definitely not hitting on you right now.” She lifts up her left hand and shows off a simple diamond ring on her wedding finger. “I’m engaged.” 

Jughead’s eyes widen as he looks at the ring. “Oh. Wow. I didn’t know that.” 

“He doesn’t go here,” she tells him. “He’s my highschool boyfriend.” 

“Huh,” Jughead says. “That’s cool.” 

Sabrina snorts. “Yeah, it’s _cool_.” She kicks her legs back and forth and Jughead watches, mainly because he doesn’t know what else to do. “So you and Betty really aren’t dating?” 

“No offense, but why do you know so much about Betty and I?” He asks, not unkindly. 

Thankfully Sabrina doesn’t look offended at all. She just keeps smiling at him in a way that weirdly reminds him of Luna Lovegood. He momentarily wonders if she might be high, but she doesn’t smell like weed. Maybe she’s just one of those overly happy people; he’s never met one but he’s sure they exist. 

“I see you guys around campus a lot,” she says. “I also have Veronica Lodge in my Politics class. We talk sometimes.” 

Jughead nods slowly before he looks at her in confusion. “Wait, Veronica? Does she talk about us or something?” 

Sabrina stays quiet for a moment. “No, not really. I mean, she talks about all of you, like your friend group but that’s it.” She doesn’t sound like she’s telling the whole truth, but Jughead doesn’t feel like pressing it. He wouldn’t be surprised at all if he found out that Veronica was going around and whining about him and Betty to whoever would listen. She loves to make his life harder. “From the way she mentioned things, it always sounded like maybe you two were an item.” She gives him a shy look. “And you just seem really close. I mean, anytime I see you guys on campus, you’re practically hanging off each other.” She winces. “Sorry if that was weird to say.” 

Jughead frowns. Jesus, had it been obvious to everyone _but_ him? Because apparently the entire campus had believed him and Betty were already dating while Jughead here was barely realizing his feelings for her. 

“Well, we aren’t, so…” he trails off, not knowing what to say. 

“Why not?” 

“What?” He looks at her weirdly and she just continues to kick her feet. 

“I mean, do you not like her?” 

He gapes at her. “Um, even if I did, why would I tell you? I don’t really know you.” 

Sabrina shrugs. “Sometimes it’s easier to talk to people that you don’t know. You don’t have to tell me anything, though. It’s okay. I just thought that you might want to talk to an outsider.” 

An outsider. Hm. The thought sounds appealing. 

He hasn’t really had the chance to talk about this with anyone. He doesn’t want to talk to Veronica, because he doesn’t really feel like getting bitched out for whatever reason. If there’s one thing Veronica can do, it’s find something to attack him over. In this case he imagines that she’ll have a lot to say about him taking so long to realize his feelings. 

He won’t talk to Cheryl about it, because she’ll probably just tease him. She’s never been the best when it comes to deep heart-to-hearts and he needs someone who’s actually going to listen to him and give him solid advice; not laugh at him and call him emo. He adores Cheryl, but he doesn’t understand how Toni has any kind of serious conversations with the other girl. He once saw them get in a pretty serious fight and Cheryl simply smiled at her girlfriend and said, “ _Oh, my God, the make up sex is going to be incredible tonight_.” Yeah. He needs a more serious approach. 

And Toni… Toni might be like a sister to him, but for some reason he doesn’t want to talk to her about this. He feels a little stupid if he’s being honest. Like, how the hell did he not realize that he has feelings for his best friend? They’ve been living together for about seven months now and he’s _barely_ realizing that he likes her? For fucks sake, Betty walks around their apartment in her underwear sometimes and yet he’s never felt any kind of attraction towards her whatsoever. Or maybe he did? He doesn’t know anymore. All he knows is that he’s an idiot and he doesn’t want Toni to know that. Not yet, at least. 

And Archie, despite thinking that he’s some kind of expert on women, has never had a single solid relationship aside from Veronica, and that only happened after Veronica had to spell out that she had feelings for Archie even though they’d been sleeping together for about ten months at that point. Archie had no room giving anyone advice on love. 

So that left his newfound party friend. 

“I think I like her,” he says suddenly and Sabrina seems surprised that he’s decided to open up to her so soon, but she nods encouragingly. “I don’t know. Well, yeah, I do. I think.” 

Sabrina chuckles. “It shouldn’t be that hard, Jughead. Don’t think about it, just answer. Do you have romantic feelings for Betty Cooper?” 

He can’t help it, he laughs. “Romantic feelings?” He mimics. “What is this? Some adult novel from the 1800s?” 

“Answer the question or I’ll kick you.” 

“Ask me again.” 

“Do you have romantic feelings-- _stop laughing_ \--for Betty Cooper?” 

“Yes.” 

He hasn’t even realized that he’s spoken until he glances over at Sabrina to see her smirking at him. 

“Oh,” he breathes out and then leans back into the swing. The answer had come so easily to him that the word had fallen from his lips before his brain could catch up to what he was actually saying. “Wow.” 

“Did you expect your answer to be no?” 

He shakes his head once. “I really don’t know. I mean, I guess I was sort of starting to accept the fact that I have some sort of feelings for her, but I didn’t expect to answer the question that easily.” Sure, he had this conversation with himself, but it was a completely different situation when you admit those feelings to someone else. 

“Well, now that you know, what are you going to do about it?” 

“Nothing.” 

Sabrina frowns. “Wait, what? What do you mean?” 

“I mean nothing. I’m not going to do anything.” 

“Okay,” she says slowly, still confused, “why not? You like her, don’t you?” 

“I love her,” he says easily. “And getting together with her would ruin everything.” 

“Why do you say that?” 

“I don’t know how to be someone’s boyfriend. I would mess up and hurt her and then she would leave me and end up hating me.” He looks towards the house. He wonders where Betty’s at; who she’s talking to. Is she texting Aaron? Telling him how much fun she’s having? The thought has him clenching the now warm beer bottle in his hand. “She deserves better than me and I would rather have her in my life as a friend than nothing else.” 

“I don’t think I could live without her,” he admits in a whisper.

Sabrina doesn’t say anything back, probably too shocked by his admission, but he doesn’t care. It doesn’t matter what she says. It won’t change his mind. 

His happy ending with Betty is him being the Best Man at her wedding; not the groom. Guys like him don’t get the girl in the end and they certainly don’t get girls like Betty Cooper. They’re destined to be the shoulder to cry on, the best friend; nothing more. 

Only in his dreams. 

He’s getting antsy.

It’s past two in the morning and despite the fact that the party is still going strong, he wants to go home. He’s tired and Sabrina had left him a little after midnight. He has no idea where the hell his friends are and he’s bored. 

He’s spent the last hour trying to find them. He even tried going through the bedrooms to see if maybe they were hooking up or something, but he stopped doing that after he walked in on Reggie Mantle in a very _compromising_ position with a guy that Jughead’s pretty sure is a theatre major. He hadn’t even known that Reggie was into guys, but he knew better now. 

He’s been offered a line of coke, Xanax, and even some acid in the last ten minutes alone and it’s starting to make him feel on edge. 

He’s called Betty several times and each time he got sent to voicemail. No one’s seen her and he feels like he’s about to punch the next person who comes up to him if he doesn’t find her soon. 

“Betty?” He calls out as he makes his way down to the basement. It’s the last place he’s checked and for good reason. It’s smokey as hell in here and he scrunches up his nose at the obvious smell of marijuana. He’s all for it, really, he has no issue with weed and he’s definitely smoked his fair share of joints with Archie, but this shit is ridiculous. He didn’t even know you could hotbox a room like this, but apparently Reggie and his frat bros can do anything. 

He bumps into some random guy. 

“Hey,” he says, grabbing onto the guy’s arm, “have you seen Betty Cooper down here? She’s blonde. She’s wearing a black skirt and top. She’s in like, some heeled boots. Pretty tall girl.” 

The guy looks at him through hooded eyes and then brightens up. 

“Aw, shit! You mean my little dancer.” 

Jughead straightens up, anger rising through him quickly, and glares down at the guy. 

“I’m sorry. Your _what_?” 

His voice must come out pretty threatening, because the guy’s smile falters as he looks at Jughead, suddenly seeming a lot more sober than he had been just seconds ago. 

“Look, man, I didn’t know she had a boyfriend, okay? She’s the one who came in here and started going off.” 

“What do you mean ‘going off’?” He asks through clenched teeth. 

“Bitch was dancing on the fucking table like she was single!” The guy yells, obviously feeling like Jughead’s trying to come at him, which he really wasn’t until right now. 

“You gonna call my girlfriend a bitch right in front of my face?” Jughead asks, going along with whatever’s in this guy’s mind about him and Betty. “You think that’s smart?” 

“Look, dude, I don’t want problems, okay? She’s over there with Derek and Annie.” He points to a corner of the room, but Jughead doesn’t turn around. 

“Did you touch her?” He asks, voice low. 

“I didn’t know she had a boyfriend!” 

Jughead nods, drags his tongue over his teeth and then laughs once. “Alright, cool. You didn’t know.” 

“So we're good, dude?” 

“Sure,” Jughead says and then he’s throwing a nasty right hook to the guy’s cheek, causing him to fall to the ground. “We’re good.” 

The guy lets out a yell as he holds his bleeding nose. It’s probably broken now. Good. 

A few people around them turn to look at what’s happening, but none of them try to help the other guy. Smart. Jughead’s so pissed off right now that he could probably take down everyone in this entire room. 

He leans down so that he’s face-to-face with the asshole on the ground, who cowers away from Jughead. 

“You ever call her a bitch again and I’ll make sure it’s the last thing you ever say. Stay the fuck away from her.” He claps the guy’s shoulder a little too roughly, causing him to wince in pain. “And don’t ever call me ‘dude’ again.” He shoves him back and then stands up. His knuckles hurt from the punch, but he can barely focus on that as he whirls around to look for Betty. 

This time it isn’t hard at all. 

She’s exactly where that asshole had said she would be. There’s a girl with blue hair and a boy who’s built like a damn brick house with her. He doesn’t know what he expected to find her doing, but it certainly wasn’t this. 

She’s currently sandwiched in between the two of them, all three of them swaying sensually to the song that’s playing through the shitty speakers. 

He feels stuck as he watches her move against the couple. She looks happy as she throws her head back, laughing at whatever one of them has said to her. Maybe he should just leave her alone. She looks like she’s having a good time and who is he to ruin that? He’s just her friend. 

But then she brings her head back up and he watches as it falls to the other side roughly. She stumbles a little and that’s when he notices how lazy she’s moving. 

His feet start moving before his mind even realizes that it wants to intervene. 

“Betty,” he says once he’s close enough to her. “Hey, Betts.” He reaches out and grabs onto her arm. She startles and then looks at him and he lets out a sigh. 

“Juggie,” she slurs out, not even really looking at him. She throws her arms around his neck and he stumbles on his feet at the impact, but wraps his arms around her carefully anyway. “You’re finally back!” 

Back? Back from where? He never left. 

“Are you drunk?” He asks, even though he already knows the answer. He pulls her off of him and looks at her closely, frowning when he sees just how red her eyes are. “ _And_ high? Jesus Christ, Betty.” It’s not like he cares that she does this, but he hates when she’s alone when she’s like this. Fuck. He should have stayed with her.

“I was having fun,” she drags out. “Y’know, since you were having fun too.” 

“What are you talking about?” 

“Doesn’t matter! Why are you here? Are you going to dance with me too?” 

“No. I’m going to go home, are you coming with me?” 

She studies him, or she tries to at least, but she’s swaying too much and her eyes are so unfocused that he’s not even sure she’s fully aware of this conversation right now. He tightens his grip on her, scared that she’s going to trip over her own damn feet. 

“You’re going home alone?” She asks. Her eyes are watery and her voice is shaky and he has never felt so damn confused in his entire life. 

“Of course I am,” he reassures her, “unless you’re coming with me.” 

He drops his hands from her shoulders and she watches them fall to his sides quietly. She glances back up to his eyes and he notices that she’s finally looking at him and _seeing_ him. He holds out his hand for her, palm up and inviting. 

“Let’s go home,” he tells her. 

She glances down at his hand and then back up to his face. For a moment, he thinks that she’s actually going to tell him no, but then she grabs his hand and laces their fingers together. 

“Okay,” she agrees softly. “Let's go home.”

.

.

.

Something’s wrong. 

He doesn’t know what it is, but he just knows that something isn’t right. Betty had been quiet the entire Uber ride back to their apartment and now Jughead’s helping her get ready for bed and she still won’t talk to him. 

“You don’t need to help me,” she says for the tenth time. She tugs her shirt over her head and immediately trips over the fucking air, making her stumble sideways and nearly fall into her shower. Jughead reaches out and steadies her before that can happen and helps her put on her shirt correctly. 

“You were saying?” He asks, eyebrows raised as he looks down at her and she sticks her tongue out at him. 

“I hate you,” she mumbles. 

“No, you really don’t.” She stomps back into her bedroom and Jughead follows after her. “What are you doing?” 

“I’m going to bed!” She says, throwing the covers over her head. He almost wants to laugh at how she’s acting… _almost_. 

“No, you aren’t. You need to drink water first.” He grabs the glass of water from her bedside table and shakes it, allowing the ice to clank around noisily. “Come on, drink this.” 

Betty doesn’t move and he knocks the glass against her shoulder. 

“Betts, I’m serious. You need to drink water before you go to sleep. I don’t want you to feel bad—.” He cuts himself off as he feels Betty flinch underneath him. He looks down at her hidden figure and frowns. “Betty?” 

“I need you to go,” Betty tells him quietly. 

The words shock him so much that he freezes, not sure what to say or do right now. Betty’s never told him something like that. It’s a stern dismissal and it _hurts_.

“What?” He finally says, voice a little too high to be normal. “Why?” 

“Please,” she says instead of an answer, “just go.” 

“No,” he tells her, getting upset. He doesn’t understand why she’s acting like this when he’s just trying to take care of her. He knows that it’s probably because she’s drunk, but he doesn’t care. He’s not going to let her act like this and he’s definitely not letting either of them go to sleep feeling this upset. “Not until you tell me what’s wrong.” 

“I don’t need to tell you everything, Jughead.” She sounds so tired and he wants to rip the blankets off of her so that he can see her face, can see what she’s thinking. 

“And when did that start?” He asks sarcastically. “Because before tonight, I was under the impression that we told each other everything.” 

“Well, we don’t have to!” She says sharply. 

And that’s enough. Something is clearly bothering her and maybe if it were anyone else, Jughead would leave them alone to their own feelings, but this isn’t just anyone, it’s Betty. And Jughead isn’t about to walk away from her right now when she’s like this. 

He reaches up and yanks the covers off of her. He means to demand what her issue is, but as soon as he sees her face, he goes still. 

There are silent tears falling down her face, her eyes are clenched shut, and she’s biting her lip so hard that it’s starting to bleed. She obviously hadn’t wanted him to know she’d been crying and for some reason that hurts him the most. 

She opens her eyes and he’s never seen her look so lost. Her stare is piercing and it’s almost like she’s trying to stare past him and into his soul. It’s unnerving and it makes him pause his movements, but then her eyes start to water again and he reaches down for her. 

“Betty, what’s wrong?” He begs. He rubs his thumbs over the dry and stray tears, trying to clean her face up, but it’s in vain when more and more just keep falling from her eyes. “If you don’t tell me what’s wrong, I’m going to call Veronica over here.” 

Betty lets out a choked laugh at that. “I’m fine,” she says softly. She reaches up with her hand and places her palm over his, stopping him from wiping away her tears. “I promise. I just had a little too much to drink.” 

“Betty--.” 

“You know how I get when I’m drunk. I’m just a mess for no reason.” 

He does know that. He knows that better than anyone else. He’s had to drag Betty’s crying ass out of one too many places, but usually she’s crying over something stupid, something that doesn’t matter. It doesn’t feel like that right now, because usually she’s in crazy hysterics, but tonight she’s doing everything she can to hide this from him. 

“I think we both know that’s not what’s going on right now,” he says and her grip tightens on him. “I’m not trying to force you to talk to me, I just… I want you to be okay, Betty. That’s all I’ve ever wanted for you and I hate seeing you like this.” A thought comes to him and he immediately feels on edge. “Did something happen at the party? Did someone do something to you? Did they hurt you?” He flips his hand around and laces his fingers through hers. 

Her lip starts to wobble as she looks up at him. She blinks rapidly, obviously trying to stop the tears that are bound to come. Fuck, why do they still let her get drunk? 

“They didn’t hurt me,” she promises, but there’s something about the way she says it that makes him think maybe she’s not telling the whole truth here. “I guess my mind just made me believe in something that wasn’t there and tonight I realized that I’m an idiot and none of it was real.” 

Jughead’s torn. He has no idea what she’s talking about. None of what she’s saying makes sense, but yet it seems to make perfect sense to _her_. It could be the alcohol that’s making her talk in riddles, but whatever it is, it isn’t helping him out at all. 

“You’re not an idiot, Betts. Don’t say that.” 

She gives him a shaky smile. “I’m really tired right now, Juggie. I just want to go to sleep, okay?” 

He looks at her for a few more seconds, before he finally nods. “Okay, okay. Do you want me to stay with you?” 

“That’s okay,” she tells him, squeezing his hand once before pulling away from him. He places his palm onto his jeans and tries to ignore the way it feels empty and cold now. “I don’t want to bother you.”

“Bother me?” He echos. “That’s not bothering me! Of course I’ll stay with you.” 

She shakes her head slowly at him. “No.” 

“No?” He feels anxious and he doesn’t know why. He doesn’t understand what’s going on here, but for some reason, he feels terrified. He feels like he’s losing something he doesn’t even have. He doesn’t know if this is coming from Betty or if it’s just because she’s drunk, but it feels like she’s pulling away from him and he’s not sure if he can pull her back in. 

“I’m not going to make you do something you don’t want to do.” 

“What are you _talking_ about?” 

She flips over, turning her back towards him. 

“You won’t stay,” she says as she finally starts to drift off. Jughead sits there, still stunned, and watches her with a pained expression. He wants to say something more, but he knows he’s not going to get anywhere with her right now. “And I’m tired of doing this. I can’t keep getting my hopes up.” 

“Betty?” 

She doesn’t say anything else, finally falls asleep, and he sighs. Tonight feels like one huge mess. He’d thought that he had everything figured out, but now he’s realizing that maybe he and Betty are on two completely different pages. He’s not sure how to get them back on the same page when he’s not even sure that they’re reading the same book anymore. 

He places the glass of water on her table and gets up from the bed. Before he can talk himself out of it, he leans down and places a kiss to her head. He might not be sure about what’s going on with Betty, but he knows that he wants to be able to comfort her. She’s asleep and there’s no way she can know about the kiss, but she hums out a little in her sleep once his lips touch her and her facial features soften dramatically. It’s the least he can give her right now. 

He doesn’t say or do anything else as he leaves her room. Hopefully they can just talk about this, whatever it is, tomorrow. 

.

.

.

They don’t get to talk the next day, because Betty is adamant that she has no idea what he’s talking about. 

Jughead had made her a simple breakfast, toast and eggs, not wanting to upset her stomach, and had hoped that they would be able to talk about whatever had been bothering Betty the night before. It had been an ugly shock when Betty had just looked at him with blank eyes before saying that she had no recollection of anything that happened after they left the party. 

Maybe it’s a good thing that Betty doesn’t remember what happened when they got home, because it’s not like it had been a good time for her, but it’s shitty for Jughead, because now he has no clue who he’s supposed to talk to about this. He just knows that he really has to talk to _someone_. 

He just hadn’t expected that ‘someone’ to be Toni _and_ Archie. 

“How are you this dense?” Toni asks and then immediately screams as her video game character gets killed by Archie’s. “I’m going to kill you, you Elmo looking fucker.” 

“How are you gonna do that when I just killed _you_?” 

Toni grabs Archie’s controller out of his hands and Jughead watches as the two of them start to fight each other right there in Toni’s living room. 

“Um, hello?” He shrieks. “I thought we were talking about me here!” 

Archie gives him a bored look as he puts Toni in a playful chokehold. “There’s only so many times we can call you an idiot, bro.” 

“We haven’t called him a dumbass yet,” Toni wheezes and then reaches up to pull at Archie’s hair roughly, which causes him to loosen his grip on her. 

“That’s right!” Archie jumps over the couch to hide from Toni. “Dumbass!” 

“Why are you so mean to me?” Jughead whines, throwing himself onto the couch and laying his head on Toni’s lap. Part of him does it because he needs the comfort and part of him does it because he really just wants her and Archie to shut up and listen to his problems. It’s not everyday that he has an existential crisis; he needs the support. 

“Because,” Toni drags out, resting her hand on the back of his head, “for someone so smart, you really are the dumbest person I have ever met.” 

“Hey…”

“It’s true, man,” Archie wheezes as he takes a seat on the opposite end of the couch, lifting Jughead’s feet to place them on his lap. “I love you and I support you, so that’s why I’ve been pretty quiet about all of this, but come on. This is getting embarrassing.” 

“What’s getting embarrassing?” 

“Watching you mess up with Betty again and again because you refuse to admit your feelings for her for whatever reason, as if she hasn’t been in love with you for the past three years.” 

Jughead stills at Archie’s words. Toni’s head snaps towards the redhead and Jughead is really glad that he’s not on the receiving end of the glare that she’s currently giving. 

“What?” He says quietly, looking up at Toni like she has all the answers to his questions. “I don’t… Betty isn’t in love with me.” 

“Oh, hell no.” Toni gets up from the couch and Jughead falls onto the floor in a messy heap. “I’m not doing this.” 

“Doing what?” Jughead asks loudly, trying to ignore the pain in his butt from falling right now. “She’s my best friend, Toni!” 

“No, she isn’t,” Archie sings out, sounding way too amused with this entire situation. 

“ _I’m_ your best friend!”

Jughead looks up at Toni and blinks. “Are--are you jealous over my friendship with Betty? Toni, come on. You know you’re like my sister. Of course you’re my best friend. It’s just that Betty--.”

“Do you want to kiss me?” Toni asks suddenly and Jughead actually _reels_ back at the question, nearly hitting his head on the coffee table. Toni gets on her knees and looks him right in the eye. “Jughead, do you want to kiss me?” 

“No!” He says quickly and stands up, taking a step away from her. “What the hell is wrong with you? You’re my best friend, Toni!” 

“Aha!” She yells and stands up too. “See! Best friends don’t want to kiss their best friends so tell me, if Betty Cooper asked you if you wanted to kiss her, what would you say? Would you react like you just did with me?” 

Jughead looks at Toni like she’s lost her damn mind, and honestly maybe she has, because why else would she be here right now asking him such stupid questions?

“You’re taking way too long to answer this,” Archie says and Jughead sends him a cold glare. Asshole. Of course he’s enjoying this. 

“Fuck you guys,” Jughead snaps, face getting red. Why do they have to do this? Why can’t they just be normal about shit and talk to him like normal people?

“Because you don’t know how to talk to us like a normal person!” Toni snaps back, making him realize that he’d been voicing his thoughts out loud. “Look, Jug, I’m about to tell you something that could potentially land me in serious hot water with Cheryl, so you better shut the hell up and listen to me.”

“Toni,” Archie warns. 

Suddenly Jughead feels even more annoyed. They’re keeping things from him _again_? They’ve never done that before, yet now that’s all his friends seem to be doing, and what’s even worse is that they both seem to know what the other is talking about, but he’s the only one left out in the dark. It sucks. 

“No,” Toni says, cutting Archie off. “I’m not watching them do this shit anymore.” 

“Do _what_?” Jughead asks, feeling like he’s about to lose his mind. 

“When you first came over, you told us that Betty seemed off today, right?” 

Jughead nods slowly. Betty had been completely absent from their conversations earlier. He’d tried talking to her about anything he could think of that would brighten up her mood, but she had only offered him half smiles and one word answers. He’d known something was up with her, but he decided to give her some space. He figured she was just tired from the night before, but now he’s not so sure. It seems like his friends know something that he doesn’t.

“Why do you think that is?” 

He shrugs. “She probably felt sick or something. Didn’t she drink a lot?”

Archie scoffs and Toni takes a deep breath. 

“You fucking idiot,” she says under her breath and Jughead chooses to ignore it right now. “You and I both know she wasn’t that drunk when you two finally left, so try again.” 

“I don’t know!” He says loudly, throwing his arms up in the air. “Are you going to tell me or are you just going to keep insulting me?” 

“She was jealous over you spending the entire night with that other blonde girl and not her,” Archie finally admits. Jughead whirls around to look at him but the redhead just looks bored where he lays on the couch. 

“What?” She was jealous of Sabrina? That makes no sense. 

“Well, that wasn’t exactly the way I wanted to come out with that,” Toni says slowly, “but yeah, that pretty much sums it up.” 

He shakes his head. “No? That doesn’t make any sense.” 

“Doesn’t it?” 

“Think about it, man,” Archie says. “Like really think about it.” 

So he does. He stands there and rethinks everything he’s ever thought about him and Betty. He’d been over here trying to figure out his feelings over her, that he never really stopped to wonder about her feelings for him. Had he really been that oblivious? There’s no way. He’s sure that he would have noticed by now. 

“But… Betty never said anything,” he chokes out, feeling like he can’t breathe. 

Archie lets out a long groan and Toni rolls her eyes. 

“Did she need to? I mean, come on, Jug! You guys literally share the same bed sometimes and _cuddle_. You’re always kissing her, even if it just is on the forehead or whatever. You hold hands everywhere you go and when is the last time either of you went on a date?” When he doesn’t say anything, Toni grins knowingly. “Exactly! You know, that night at the club, Veronica was trying to get Betty to go back after Aaron when you were in the restroom.” 

“What?” He says, voice hard. 

“But Betty told her no. Veronica asked why not and Betty said it was because she came with you, but we all knew that was bullshit. It’s not because she went with you, it’s because she was _waiting_ for you. She’s been waiting for you for three years and if you don’t do something about it, you’re going to lose her, Jughead. I need you to really sit and think about what that would mean for you. I don’t mean the two of you, either, I mean just you. How would you feel if Betty did start dating? If she got a boyfriend? Do you think you’d just be okay with that?”

“Stop.” 

“Would you be able to sit around and watch her kiss someone else? Would you be fine with her bringing along a new boyfriend to all our friend dates? What about when she finally moves out of your apartment so that she can live with him?” 

“Stop!” He shouts and then immediately winces. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to yell at you.” 

Luckily Toni doesn’t seem upset with him. She just gives him a sad smile. “Think about it, Jughead. How would you feel? Would you be okay with that?” 

The answer comes as easily to him as it had last night with Sabrina. He doesn’t need to think about it at all. It’s so simple and he can’t believe that he never realized it. 

“No,” he says honestly. “I wouldn’t.” 

Archie mumbles ‘finally’ from the couch and Toni’s smile turns a little happier now. 

“Then do something about it,” she tells him. 

Instead of arguing with her, he nods his head slowly. 

Maybe all of his dreams he’s been having about Betty lately don’t have to be just dreams. Maybe they can be a reality; they can be _their_ reality. 

Maybe, just maybe, he is allowed to have a happy ending with Betty. 

.

.

.

Betty isn’t home when he gets back. It’s Thursday, so she has one class, but it’s already three in the afternoon, so she should have been back a while ago. He doesn’t think anything of it, though. They live close to campus, but Betty usually goes to get lunch or coffee with some of her friends after class. Usually she’ll have Jughead drive her and pick her up. He likes to act like he’s annoyed by it, but they both know the truth; he loves doing things like that for her. Betty Cooper has him completely whipped and they aren’t even together yet. 

Which is why he’s a little sad when the time goes on and his phone doesn’t ring. He sends her a couple of texts but they remain “delivered”. She doesn’t even open them. 

When it turns five and his phone remains silent and the apartment empty, he has to refrain from calling Veronica to see if maybe she’s heard from Betty. The only thing that stops him is the fact that he knows she would ask a hundred and one questions if he called her. He’s also pretty sure that she would try and hold it over his head and make some comment about his feelings for Betty. Before that would have just made him roll his eyes at her, but now it would probably lead to a conversation that he just doesn’t want to have right now. 

He tries to busy himself by cleaning up a little and then by making himself dinner. It’s hard to eat his shitty sandwich when all he can worry about is Betty and if she’s okay. 

At six, with a defeated sigh, he dials Veronica’s number. 

“Beanie boy,” she greets after two rings. “How may I help you on this lovely day?” 

“Hello, Veronica,” he says warmly. For all that she can get on his nerves, she’s one of his closest friends and he does love and care for her. Hearing her voice calms him down almost instantly. She’ll confirm that Betty is with her and then everything will be fine. “I’m sorry for calling you about this, but I can’t get a hold of Betty. Is she with you?” 

He expects her to answer immediately with a ‘yes’. He, however, is not expecting the prolonged silence that his question receives. 

“Um, Veronica?” He looks at his phone to make sure she hasn’t hung up on him, but her contact name shines brightly at him. 

“She isn’t with me,” Veronica finally says. “Sorry, Jug.” 

He’s immediately on edge. “What do you mean she isn’t with you? Have you heard from her? Veronica, her class got out at three and she hasn’t answered any of my calls and I really need to talk to--.” 

“Jughead,” his friend cuts him off, “I think you really need to talk to Betty.” 

“What do you mean? About what?” 

Veronica sighs. “She’s safe, Jug, okay? That’s really all I can tell you right now. I’m sure she’ll be home any second.” 

“Am I missing something here?” He asks, because for the first time since he’s known Betty, she’s keeping something from him. He really doesn’t know what to do with that. 

It leaves an ugly, angry feeling inside of him. 

“Just… Just talk to Betty, okay?” Veronica’s voice sounds a lot softer and nicer than it has in a while. 

“Fine,” he says through his teeth, annoyed that his friend just can’t tell him what’s going on right now. 

“And Jug?” She says right before he can hang up. “Don’t hurt her. She really needs you in her life, okay?” 

The line clicks and he looks down at his phone in confusion. 

Don’t hurt her? Why would he ever do that? _How_ could he ever do that? The last thing in the world that he would ever want to do is hurt Betty. And he noticed how Veronica said Betty needs him, but does she even understand how much Jughead needs Betty in his life? He’s suppressed his feelings, his happiness, for three years because the idea of possibly losing Betty was too hard for him to even think about. 

While he sits and thinks that over, the front door finally opens up and he turns around to see Betty walk in with a soft smile on her face and all the anger and frustration and confusion he’d just been feeling leaves. 

She looks beautiful, so happy and content, and Jughead Jones is absolutely, irrevocably in love with her. 

“Hey,” he greets, standing up from the kitchen bar. 

Betty startles and then grins widely at Jughead as she closes the door behind her. “Hey, Juggie!” She looks at his sad ham sandwich, still uneaten in front of him. “Oh, did you eat? I brought you something.” She holds up a bag in her hand and Jughead smiles. It’s almost like last night and this morning never happened. 

“No, I didn’t. What did you get me?” 

He feels like a kid as he glances down into the bag happily. 

“You went to our cafe?” He asks, pulling out his favorite soup and grilled chicken salad. Usually he isn’t a salad guy at all, but this thing had just as much chicken on it as it did lettuce. It’s also one of the most delicious things he’s ever tasted in his entire life. 

“Well, it was on my way home, so I decided to be the amazing friend that I am and get you your favorite.” She smiles at him and he pauses, because what he really wants to do is something that he actually can’t. He really wants to lean over this bar and kiss her. He really wants to wrap his arms around her and pull her against him. He’s never wanted anything more. 

“Thank you,” he tells her instead. “You didn’t have to.” 

“I know that, but I wanted to.” 

He gives her a smile and then takes a seat with his food. He thinks about what she had said; she stopped by their cafe on her way home. Home from where? The cafe isn’t on the route from college to their place. He doesn’t want to sound like a psycho lover or something, but Veronica’s words are ringing in his head from earlier. When he’d asked where Betty was, Veronica had told him that he needed to talk to her. Why? Why hadn’t she just told him where Betty was? It didn’t make any sense. 

“Where were you?” He blurts out and Betty turns to look at him with wide eyes. He sighs. “Sorry, I just meant… You didn’t answer my texts or anything, I got worried. I’m sorry.” 

Betty blinks, but she still looks a little nervous. “Oh, I’m sorry. My phone was on Do Not Disturb and I didn’t even think to check it, if I’m being honest.” She reaches into her purse and pulls it out, checking over the missed messages from Jughead and she looks at him sadly. “I’m sorry, Juggie. I didn’t mean to worry you. I was okay, I promise.” 

“You don’t need to apologize, Betts. I just missed you, that’s all.” He usually tells her this, but whereas it normally sounds teasing, right now it doesn’t. He isn’t teasing her. He means it. He did miss her. He wanted her here so that he could talk to her about everything, but now that she’s actually in front of him, he doesn’t think he can do it. 

What if he’s wrong? What if Archie and Toni are wrong? What if Betty only sees him as a friend and he ruins everything? Or worse, what if she does like him back and he breaks her heart? Jughead doesn’t know the first thing about being someone’s boyfriend, not really at least. He sure as hell doesn’t know the first thing about dating someone like Betty Cooper. She’s too good for him, _way_ too good for him. She is so out of his league that it isn’t even funny. Why would she ever look at him and see him as anything other than her best friend? 

Is he ready to possibly lose her forever? 

He looks at her; her gentle green eyes and flushed cheeks, her soft lips that are curved downward in a pout. She’s celestial and he wants to follow her wherever she goes, wherever she takes him. He can’t lose her. 

And yet… he can’t live his life wondering if he would have her if he just would have manned up and told her the truth. 

“Betty, I have to talk to you about something.” 

“Me too,” she tells him, playing with her hands. She still looks so damn nervous and he doesn’t understand why. 

“Oh? Well, uh, you can go first.” She looks like she needs to say whatever it is that she has to say or else she might pass out, and he’s not about to hold her back. 

She nods like she’s trying to talk herself up, and the longer she takes to answer, the more he starts to feel anxious. Finally, she lets out a deep breath. 

“So I was actually out today,” she says very slowly, “on a date.” 

Jughead blinks. 

That is… not ideal. 

“A date?” He repeats. “Like, a friend date? With one of your girl friends?” 

Betty makes a funny face and tilts her head at him like he’s grown a second one. 

“Um, no? Like a date-date. With a guy.” 

Well, shit. 

Jughead stares up at Betty and waits for her to tell him that she’s just joking. When she doesn’t, when she just stands there with a confused smile, he feels like his entire body goes cold. 

“Oh,” he says quietly, because Betty’s starting to look nervous. “Okay.” 

“Okay?” She repeats. “That’s it?” 

He shrugs and stirs his soup, actively _not_ looking at Betty now. What the hell does she want him to say right now? Is he supposed to tell her that he’s happy for her? Is he supposed to ask for all the details? Maybe that’s what he _should_ do, but he isn’t. He can’t. 

“That’s cool.” He grips the spoon tighter as he lies through his teeth. “Anyone I know?” 

God, he sounds like such an asshole. He hates it. He wants to be able to be happy for Betty right now, but he had _just_ been able to tell her the truth. He was so close, so fucking close, to getting everything he wanted. What kind of shitty karma did he have to deserve this? 

When Betty takes too long to answer, he finally looks back up at her. By the pained expression on her face, he already knows who the guy is. 

“So, you listened to Veronica after all.” 

His voice comes out cold, _cruel_ , and he hates himself for it. He hates the way Betty’s face falls as it burns red in embarrassment. He hates that he can’t just shut up and be happy for her; that he can’t just ignore everything just like he has been for the past three years. She’s finally standing in front of him and telling him that she might have found someone and he should be so fucking happy for her, but he isn’t. And he hates it. 

“Why are you acting this way?” She asks quietly. “I don’t understand, Juggie.” 

He bites the inside of his cheek so hard that he can feel the tangy copper taste of his own blood drip down his tongue. He needs to shut the hell up and backtrack this entire conversation before he does something he regrets. 

So he shakes his head. “No, no. I’m sorry. I was with Toni and Archie earlier and they… Well, things just didn’t go the way I wanted them to, so I guess I’m in a bad mood. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to take it out on you.” He smiles at her, but even he can tell that it looks forced and fake. Betty’s frown deepens. “Tell me about your date. How did it go?” 

He pats the seat next to him and when she slowly moves to sit down, he pushes his own chair a little further away from her. He has to, because if he doesn’t then their knees are going to knock together and he can’t touch Betty right now, he _can’t_. It feels like the wrong thing to do though, when Betty’s eyes look up at him with a sadness that has never been directed at Jughead before. Space had never been an issue for them. Hell, the closer they were, the better in their opinion, but Jughead’s just actively made a conscious thought to move away from Betty and it hurts both of them like nothing else ever has. 

“I don’t know,” she says slowly, eyes still looking up at him sadly. “It didn’t feel right.” 

A small part of Jughead wants to jump at that and ask her why, wants to see if maybe she could possibly be feeling what he’s feeling and _that’s_ why it didn’t feel right. An even bigger part tells him to shut up, to not ruin this for her more than he already has by being an asshole. 

“I’m sure it’s just because you were nervous,” he tells her. “You know, first date jitters and all of that.”

“I guess. I think maybe I kept waiting for him to be someone else.” 

“Someone else?” 

“Yeah,” she whispers. “But I guess I’ll get over that.”

“Did you like him?” He asks calmly, like it isn’t breaking his heart. 

Betty shrugs and then nods. “He was very nice.”

Jughead closes his eyes. “That’s good.” 

It’s silent for a moment and then Betty speaks again. 

“Juggie?” 

“Yeah?” He looks over at her. 

“What did you want to tell me?” 

Her eyes don’t look sad anymore, but he doesn’t know what they look like. Hopeful? Scared? Both? 

“It doesn’t matter,” he tells her with a sad smile. “Not anymore.” 

Betty’s quiet for a few seconds and Jughead just assumes that she’s thinking or something like that. He keeps his attention on the soup in front of him, so he jumps up in surprise when Betty pushes her chair back dramatically to jump onto her feet. 

“You’re a coward,” she seethes at him and Jughead’s mouth drops open in shock. “You never tell me what you really mean! You said you had something you wanted to talk to me about, so what is it? You can’t just say that and then try and act like you didn’t, Jughead.” 

“I didn’t mean it like that,” he defends uselessly. “It just doesn’t matter anymore, Betty.” 

“Why?” She pushes. “Why doesn’t it matter? It mattered up until I told you about the date.” 

His cheeks burn with embarrassment at being found out. “That’s not the truth.” 

“You’re such a liar,” she tells him, eyes shining with unshed tears. Jughead gets up, his first reaction to comfort her, but she takes a step away from him and he feels like she’s just suckerpunched him. “You lie to everyone about how you really feel. You keep everything bottled up inside of you and when they ask if you’re okay, you lie and say yes. You’ve never lied to me, though. Not until now.” 

His heart breaks at the confused and sad tone in Betty’s voice. She truly doesn’t understand why he can’t tell her the truth and he’s torn between coming clean and keeping his mouth shut. He wants to tell her the truth so badly, but he’s terrified of what comes next. He had been so sure, so ready, but then she came home talking about a date with Aaron the fucking sports agent and now he feels even more lost than he was before. 

“It’s not like that,” he says, begging her to understand. “I promise you, I’m not trying to hurt you right now.” 

“But you are!” She chokes out. “Don’t you see that? I know you’re keeping something from me and it hurts that you won’t just tell me the truth.” 

He opens his mouth. It’s on the tip of his tongue to just say everything to her, to tell her how he really feels. He plans it all out in his head. All he has to do is say the damn words. 

But he can’t. 

“I’m sorry,” he whispers and watches as the silent tears finally fall from her eyes. 

“Fine,” she says, just as softly. “Fine, Jughead. I’m done.” 

The word strikes a fear in him like nothing else ever has and this time it’s him that jumps up from his seat in a rush. 

“Done?” He echoes. “What do you mean?” 

Betty gives him a heartbreakingly sad smile. “I hope that someday you find someone that you can trust enough to be open with them. You shouldn’t have to keep everything hidden inside of yourself, Jug.” 

“Betty…” 

He feels so frustrated right now, he wants to rip out all of his hair. She doesn’t understand; she doesn’t know what she’s saying. He’s never trusted anyone like he does Betty. She knows every single thing about him; the good, the bad, and the shit that he’s never uttered to another living soul because it’s so damn ugly. She knows him inside and out. He’s laid his soul bare for her and he would do it again and again and again, because he loves her. He’s in love with her and he can see that now, but she’s dating someone. Or possibly dating someone, it doesn’t really matter. What matters is that he missed his chance and he can’t ruin this for her, not with someone who so clearly has their life together like this stupid sports agent does. 

He could probably give Betty anything and everything she wanted. Jughead’s a struggling college student who will probably struggle for the rest of his life with his damn photography degree and while that doesn’t bother him because it’s his dream, it could bother Betty. Maybe she wants something stable and sure, and Jughead Jones is the furthest thing from that. 

She picks up her purse from the countertop and slings it over her shoulder. Jughead watches her in fear. 

“Where are you going?” 

“I want to stay with Veronica for a little while.” 

“You’re leaving me,” he realizes and goes completely still. He’s used to people leaving him. He just never thought that Betty would. It’s almost funny--he’d been so scared of losing her, that he kept his feelings to himself, and yet here he is, losing her anyway. 

“I’m not leaving you,” she says with a finality. “I’ll be back, Jughead. I just… I really need to _not_ be here right now, okay?” 

He wants to stop her, wants to yell the truth out at her, but he can’t. He nods just slowly, at a loss, and watches as Betty leaves to grab some of her clothes. 

When she comes back out, Jughead isn't in the kitchen anymore and the food she’d brought back is left untouched on the kitchen counter. And if Betty leaves with a heavy heart and watery eyes, well, she doesn’t need to know that Jughead’s currently feeling the exact same way in his own room. 

.

.

.

He doesn’t see Betty for the rest of the week. 

When Friday comes around, he’s so out of it, that he completely forgets he was supposed to turn in his pieces for the showcases. He doesn’t even remember until Toni is showing off the nature pieces that she’d taken on her roadtrip, the one that Jughead had opted out of. When he starts freaking out, Toni tells him to see Dr. Raymond after class, that maybe she’ll give him an extended date. 

“I’m sorry, Forsythe,” Dr. Raymond says, forever refusing to use his nickname. “The showcase is this weekend though. These pieces were the final pieces the gallery has been waiting for. You’ve known about this for a month.” 

He feels like a child getting scolded under her watchful gaze, and it just makes him feel even worse. 

“I know, I know,” he sighs. “I was just having a hard time trying to find something that I wanted to share with the world, you know? I mean… this is my first time actually showing off my work to a big crowd and I guess I just over thought it.” 

The truth is that he’s been so distraught and heartbroken over everything with Betty, that he hadn’t even remembered about any of this, and if he had, he’s almost positive that he wouldn’t have had any kind of motivation to actually go out and try to find something inspiring. 

Dr. Raymond nods. “Do you know what that means, though? It means that you probably have a lot of amazing photos and you don’t even know it.” She taps her manicured fingers on the table and then smiles brightly “Okay, here’s the deal! You have until seven tonight to turn in your pieces. I’ll be on campus until then, so that gives you about five hours to try and find something that you want to share. If you do, come drop it off to me. If you don’t, it’s okay, Jughead. This won’t be the last opportunity for you. You’re one of the most promising students I’ve had in years, and I have no doubt in my mind that your work will be seen by the masses one day.” 

He smiles, his first real smile all week. He’s reeling from the praise on the inside, but he tries to stay cool and collected so that he doesn’t freak out his professor right now. 

“I can do that,” he tells her. “Thank you so much for being understanding, Dr. Raymond. I promise I won’t let you down!” 

“I know you won’t,” she laughs. “Now get out of here. Just because you’re one of my favorites doesn’t mean I want to hang out with you during my free time.” She makes sure to grin at him, so he knows she’s just joking. 

“See you at seven!” His voice echoes down the hallway. 

He’s not exactly sure what he’s going to do, but he’ll figure something out. He always does. 

.

.

Three hours later he finds himself sitting on his bed, looking at the countless photos that he’s taken over the year. He doesn’t want to use anything too old, but he’s discovering that a lot of the photos he’s taken this year, are different from the ones before. 

Aside from the projects he’s had to do for class, there’s really only one thing on his camera roll. He hadn’t even realized it until he’d started looking through everything at once. 

From New Years Eve to right now, the one constant thing in all of these pictures is Betty Cooper. 

There’s a picture of her from Valentine’s. They had decided to go to the aquarium together since all their other friends had plans that day. At the time, it had felt a little silly celebrating Valentine’s with someone you weren’t actually dating, but now Jughead’s starting to realize why all his friends had wanted to kick his ass. He’d loved her even back then, but he’d pushed those feelings down so much that he really believed he didn’t. 

He’s an idiot. 

He doesn’t understand how he couldn’t have known how much he loved her, because it’s so obvious in these pictures. 

In the Valentine’s one, her hand is reaching up towards one of the sharks that had been swimming along freely. He remembers how she had spent damn near thirty minutes playing with that shark, although he’s not sure if you can count it a “playing”, but whatever it was, the shark seemed to take a liking to her, following her around that area and pressing its nose to the glass whenever Betty would hold her hand out for it. 

Jughead had joked with her and said it was because the shark had wanted to eat her, but she just rolled her eyes and told him that the shark was her new best friend now. 

He’d taken his picture right after that. She’s looking over his shoulder at him, her hand still reaching up and the shark’s attention all on her. She’s smiling at Jughead and she looks so unbelievably happy. 

That could have been a fun first date for them, if only Jughead had been able to get his head out of his ass. 

Without really thinking about it, he puts the picture to the side. 

His hands start to move on their own after that. He picks several different pictures, the ones where he and Betty had driven out to the countryside or the city; the ones where they had found unique destinations to have mini photoshoots at. Betty’s always been his biggest supporter, and she loved having her picture taken by him. She never complained when he told her he needed a model for a last minute shoot, and he had loved photographing her more than anything else. 

As he looks through all the pictures he’s taken of her, it all becomes so obvious. 

These weren’t taken by a best friend. These pictures were taken by someone so in love with the person in front of the camera that he didn’t know how to express it, but looking at the photos now, he knows that he _had_ been expressing it in his own way. His subconscious had been yelling at him to realize his feelings; to tell her the truth. 

He hadn’t been listening then but he’s listening now. 

.

.

.

Dr. Raymond looks through the photos he’s handed her with a blank face. She doesn’t offer up any insight as to how she’s feeling about them, and it’s starting to make Jughead a little nervous. 

She quirks an eyebrow up at the last photo, the one that he had intentionally left for the end.

“I know they aren’t exactly the most professional pieces,” he admits when the silence becomes too much. “This one’s all personal, and I understand if you don’t think they’re what the gallery wants, but they’re all I want to share right now. They show what means the most to me, what I love the most. My muse.” 

Dr Raymond finally puts down the photos and looks up at him. 

“Do you know what photography is, Forsythe? It’s a way to express yourself without having to actually say the words. You capture a moment, one you never want to forget, and you share that moment with the world and you hope that everything you’re feeling, they feel too. You hope that they see the photo and they can see all the emotions that you were feeling as you took it; you hope that they see it and love it the way that you do.” She clasps her hands and smiles at him. “There is no such thing as unprofessional photography, not in my class, but I can tell you right now, that everything you were feeling when you took these pictures--it shows. I can feel your love and your adoration. I can feel the hope and the fear and the heartache at having something so far away from you even when it’s in right in front of you.” 

“These are beautiful,” she finishes. “And I think they’re exactly what the gallery needs.” 

“Thank you,” he says quietly, at a loss for words. 

“Don’t overthink things, Forsythe,” she says as he begins to get ready to leave. “You had beautiful pieces to show me, even when you thought you didn’t. If we overthink, then we start to put things off because we worry that they’ll never be exactly what we want, but that’s the beauty of photography and life. None of this will ever be perfect, or exactly what we want, but it’s still beautiful and perfect in it’s own way.”

“Don’t be afraid to take risks,” she continues. “And don’t overthink things so much to the point where you could possibly lose out on them, okay? You’re incredible and your work is beautiful. Be sure of yourself, go after what you want, and do what your heart is telling you to do, and I promise you that you will get everything you want in life.” 

He’s shocked. He and Dr. Raymond have a good relationship, she’s one of his favorite professors, but she’s never given him such solid advice like this. It almost makes him want to cry, but he refuses to cry at college like some weirdo. 

“Thank you,” he repeats again, this time a little shaky. “Really, Dr. Raymond. I think… I think I really needed to hear that.” 

She smiles. “You’re one of the good ones, Forsythe. I just want to make sure that you walk out of this place feeling like you can do whatever you want in life. That’s all I want for you; for all my students.” 

He nods. 

She’s right. He’s spent so much time overthinking everything, not just with this but with Betty too. He’d been overthinking from the very beginning and that’s where it all went wrong. He’s so tired of holding himself back, from denying himself what he truly wants. 

He wants Betty, he loves her. Does she love him too? Maybe. Maybe not. Who cares? He owes it to himself to finally just tell her the truth. Maybe she’ll love him back and they can work on this together, maybe she won’t. It doesn’t matter. What matters is that he stops overthinking everything; that he stops making himself and Betty miserable just because of the stupid ‘what if’s’. 

Maybe it’ll all work out, though. 

Maybe, just maybe, his love won’t have to hide behind photographs of her, maybe it can finally live within the two of them. 

.

.

.

The art gallery is a lot more packed than he thought it would be and it’s started to make him feel nervous. 

He’s been here since the opening two hours ago, and people have already seen his photos that align the walls in the second room. He’s heard them marvel over them and the beautiful girl in them. A few people have come up to him to tell him how much they like the photos, but he can hardly pay attention to them. As bad as it sounds, there’s really only one person he wants to see them, and she isn’t here yet. 

He knows that his friends are finally here, because Toni had sent him a text to let him know, since her exhibit is in the first room. He’s just waiting now for them to come see his and he can’t lie, he’s nervous as hell. He still hasn’t talked to Betty, aside from sending her a text to let her know that he saved her a ticket, but she never responded. He just hopes that she’ll still come. He doesn’t know what he’ll do if she doesn’t. Probably cry himself to sleep or something equally pathetic. 

“Oh, wow,” a quiet voice speaks up and he turns around to see Veronica standing in the room, her eyes wide in awe as she looks at all the pictures in front of her. 

Archie, Cheryl, and Toni come in a few seconds after her, laughing loudly at something, but they go completely silent once they see Jughead’s exhibit. Aside from Toni, who had been here when they were setting up, none of them had known what he had finally decided on. He imagines this might come as a surprise, or maybe not honestly. Who knows. 

“Jughead,” Cheryl says, uncharacteristically quiet, “wow.” 

“I really need you guys to say something other than ‘wow’,” he tells them, “because I’m starting to feel a bit self conscious here.” 

“These are really awesome, Jug,” Archie says, ever the sweetheart. “I mean… wow. They look like they belong in a magazine or something.” Jughead snorts, but thanks him anyway. He’s pretty sure Archie would hype him up even if he took a picture of a dog peeing on a tree. Archie’s just an amazing friend like that. 

“They’re beautiful,” Cheryl tells him, walking around to get a better look at all of them. “I wish my girlfriend took pictures of me like this.” 

“Shut up, you brat,” Toni scoffs even as she reaches for Cheryl’s hands. “I do take pictures of you and you know it.” 

“Oh yeah,” Cheryl giggles. “I guess it wouldn’t exactly be appropriate to show those here, huh?” 

“Must you two always do this?” Veronica whines. “God, you’re worse than Archie and I.” Everyone starts laughing at that, obviously not believing it in the slightest, and Veronica just crosses her arms over her chest with a sigh. “I don’t know why I put up with you guys.” 

“Because you love us!” Cheryl says happily as she continues looking at all the pieces with Toni. 

Jughead’s quiet for a couple of seconds, just watching them bicker. He wants to ask, but he doesn’t want to seem needy. Veronica must get it, though, because she always does, and she looks at him with a sad smile. 

“I’m sorry, Jug,” she tells him, giving him a tight hug. “She was ready and everything and when it was time to leave, she didn’t want to come. I think she’s scared to see you.” 

“Why?” He asks, brokenly, hiding his face in Veronica’s shoulder. Archie watches them with a frown before he looks away to stare at the photos with Cheryl and Toni. It’s not from a place of jealousy though. He had stared at them with a sadness, knowing that his best friend had finally figured his feelings out, only for it to possibly be too late. “I was going to tell her.” 

Veronica rubs a hand down his back in comfort and despite everything, Jughead’s glad that she’s the one with him right now. There’s something about Veronica that makes him feel completely at ease, even when his heart feels like it’s about to jump out of his chest. 

“I think she’s worried about what she could find here. She’s scared that everything’s going to be ruined between you two and I don’t think she knows how to handle that.” 

“But she’s wrong,” he says as he pulls away from Veronica so that he can properly look at her. “Veronica, I love her.” 

“I know, Jug, but not--.” 

“I’m in love with her,” he tells her, voice sure and strong. He needs her to know that he means it. Veronica is Betty’s best friend and it’s important to him that she knows just how serious he is right now. 

“You’re…?” Veronica smiles, slowly at first and then full on until she looks like a madwoman. She lets out a low chuckle. “You finally figured it out, huh?” 

“Shut up,” he mumbles. “I always knew deep down, I just needed a little time to realize that I didn’t have to keep sabotaging myself; that I could be happy with her.” 

Veronica nods. “Well, I’m glad, beanie boy. I was always rooting for you, you know. You’re everything I’ve ever wanted for her, and I’m sorry if lately it felt like I was trying to ruin that, it’s just… Well, I honestly thought that you would never figure it out, and I was tired of seeing my best friend so sad all the time.”

“Was it really that bad?” He asks with a wince. 

“Sometimes,” Veronica admits. “Sometimes there were moments when she really felt like maybe you were about to admit your feelings to her, and then you wouldn’t. I think it was starting to take a toll on her. She’s been in love with you since the very beginning, Jug. That’s three years of loving someone and thinking they don’t love you back, can you imagine that?” 

His heart clenches until it feels like it’s going to explode right there in his chest. Had he really made Betty feel like that? Had he really hurt her that much? He hadn’t meant for that to happen. The last thing he had ever wanted to do was hurt Betty, and yet that’s exactly what he did. 

It’s just like Archie had said. Jughead had been so hellbent on not hurting Betty, that he’d done everything that _would_ hurt her. In the end, it hadn’t even mattered. 

“I have so much to make up for,” he says sadly. “What if she doesn’t want me anymore, Veronica? What if I hurt her too much?” 

Veronica opens her mouth to say something before closing it quickly as she looks at something behind him, her eyes softening. 

“Oh, I don’t know about that, Jug. If you ask me, tonight you proved a lot more than you think you did.” 

“Well it doesn’t even matter! She’s not here to see it.” 

“You sure about that?” Veronica asks and Jughead looks down at her in confusion. Her eyes look behind him again, and this time he follows her gaze. He feels like he can’t breathe when he sees what she had been looking at. 

Betty stands in the middle of the room, looking like every sweet dream he’s ever had. She’s in a cute blue turtleneck sweater that he’s never seen before, and tight black jeans with a pair of thigh-high boots that make her legs look like they go on for miles. She looks beautiful and he yearns to reach out for her and hold her. 

She’s looking at all the photos on the wall, the photos of _her_ , with an expression that he can’t read at all. He can’t tell if she likes them or if he’s about to get called a creep, and he hates it. 

He decides to walk over to her, but he has to pretty much force himself to move. He’s terrified right now and he’s not entirely sure that he’s not about to pass out, but he doesn’t care. He has to do this. He needs to stop running away from her. He doesn’t want to anymore. 

“Hi,” he says when he’s finally in front of her. She tears her eyes away from the pictures in front of her, but it looks like it takes a lot of force. When she looks up at him, her eyes are watery, but no tears spill over. “You look beautiful tonight.” 

“What is this?” She whispers, ignoring his compliment, and he knows what Veronica meant now. Betty sounds so hopeful, but there’s the underlying fear to her voice that he’s barely noticing now. He’s going to do everything he can to make sure she never sounds like that around him again. 

“Well, it’s you.” 

Betty lets out a laugh, but it’s way too nervous to be normal. “I can see that. I just… why?” 

He could tell her, he supposes, but showing her would be a lot easier. He holds his hand out to her and she looks down at it warily. It takes a few seconds, but finally she places her hand in his, and he tries to ignore the way it finally feels like the world makes sense again. 

He leads her closer to the photos, realizing that all his friends have left the room. He’s sure they’re trying to give them some space and he’s thankful for it. He wants this moment to be just between him and Betty. It’s theirs, no one else's. 

When they’re finally close enough, Betty can see that each photo has a date on it from the day they were taken. There’s the Valentine’s one, and one that he had taken back in April when they went to a cliff overlooking the city and he’d photographed her with the night skyline lit up behind her. There’s another one from July and September, but her eyes are stuck on the final one. 

It’s from the mirror room at the carnival. 

In it, she’s laughing at something he had told her, a bright and happy expression aimed right at the camera. She looks happier than he’s ever seen her as the carnival lights shine down on her, and it’s the most beautiful moment he’s ever captured. It’s multiplied by the dozens of mirrors around her that all show her laughter like an echo. It’s the moment when he first realized that he loved her; it’s a moment he’s going to hold onto for the rest of his life. 

It paints a thousand words, but he’s only thinking of three. 

Her eyes lock onto the nameplate next to the final picture, where the title of his exhibit rests. 

_A Year In Love_

Betty whirls around so quickly that her hair slaps him in the face, but she doesn’t apologize and he doesn’t mind. 

“I don’t understand,” she tells him. 

“Well, I think it’s pretty self explanatory, Betts.” 

Her bottom lip starts to wobble as her eyes water again. She smacks his arm and lets out a shaky laugh. 

“I need you to spell it out for me,” she says quietly. “Please. I need to hear it.” 

He takes her other hand in his, so that he’s holding both of them, and looks Betty straight in her eyes. 

“I have loved you from the moment I met you,” he admits and Betty’s eyes shine up at him. “But I thought you would never love me back, and I told myself I would rather have you as a friend than nothing at all, so I pushed those feelings so far down that I was able to actually believe that they didn’t exist, but they do, and I want them to.” 

“I’m tired of overthinking everything and of being so damn scared, because the truth is, Betts, I’m terrified of losing you, but more than that, I’m terrified of never telling you how I actually feel. I have no idea if you even feel the same for me, and if you don’t then I understand, but I just have to tell you. I owe it to you and I owe it to _myself_ to finally just be honest.” He reaches up to place his hand against her cheek. “I love you, Betty Cooper, I am in love with you. And I’m not some hotshot sports agent. I can’t buy you fancy things or take you on fancy dates. I’m a photographer who doesn’t know what the hell they’re going to do after graduation, but whatever it is, I hope it’s with you.” 

Betty stares up at him for a few moments. She’s crying now, quiet tears that trail down her cheeks and fall off her chin. He waits patiently, but he’s not expecting the words that come out of her mouth. 

“You’re such an idiot,” she says through her tears. 

“Huh?” Okay. That really wasn’t what he was expecting after confessing his love for her, but he guesses it’s better than nothing. 

“How could you even think that there’s anyone else in this universe that I could ever love besides you?” 

“What?” He says, not believing this is actually happening. “Um, what does that mean? Can you spell it out for me?” 

This time Betty laughs, it’s watery and shaky, but she’s laughing and it’s so beautiful he feels like he could die a happy man right now. 

“I don’t care about money or fancy dates and gifts,” she says with a smile. “I’ve only ever loved you, Jughead. It’s only ever been you. I don’t care if we live in a shitty apartment together for the rest of our lives, because I love you, I’m in love with you, and I’ll just be happy having you by my side.” 

Jughead blinks. “You love me?” 

She nods quickly and laughs. “I love you.” 

He lets out an astonished laugh and then wraps his arms around her, lifting her off the ground to twirl her in the air. Her laughter echoes around them, and maybe they’re causing a scene right now, but he doesn’t give a single shit. He loves Betty and she loves him too, and nothing else matters. 

He stops twirling her to look at her. They’re not laughing anymore, instead they’re just smiling at eachother, content and happy in a way that’s completely new to them. 

“I want to kiss you,” he admits. 

“Well, it’s about damn time, Jughead Jones.” 

He doesn’t even have a smart remark to say. He just presses his lips to hers, kissing her right there in the middle of the room, her feet still dangling off the floor as he holds her in his arms. 

It doesn’t feel the way he thought it would. He had expected explosions and fireworks. He expected to feel like his entire world was being kicked off its axis, but it’s the exact opposite. 

He presses his lips against Betty’s and it feels like he’s finally coming home. A calm wave of euphoria washes over him, and he licks at her lips, wanting to taste more of her. 

She opens her mouth slightly and he deepens the kiss. She’s intoxicating, like the best kind of drug, and he can’t get enough of her. He could kiss her forever if she would let him, and God, he really hopes that she lets him. 

When they finally pull away, he presses their foreheads together and smiles. 

“Tell me you love me,” he whispers against her lips. 

“I love you.” She pecks his lips lightly. “Forever.” 

“Forever,” he repeats. 

It’s a promise, and as they say the word, he knows it’s one they’ll never break.

**Author's Note:**

> Regarding the note in the beginning: The gang meets a man at a club and he is visibly interested in Betty, even going as far as to give her his number. Betty shoots him down in favor of being with Jughead, but since Jughead is so oblivious, he tells her to go for it and that he has no say in what she does. Despite that, Betty does not go on a date with the man. She does text him, which we see in passing as Jughead finds out about it. Towards the end of the fic, she does go on a date with him because she feels like she needs to start getting over Jughead. The date is not in her POV. It's not some huge thing. She tells Jughead immediately and even lets him know that something felt off during it. It's not detailed whatsoever and that's the last time we hear of it. :) It's important because it helps Jughead accept his feelings more quickly than he would have otherwise. 
> 
> I hope you guys enjoyed this! Please let me know in the comments, or come find me on tumblr @ aresaphrodites <3


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